Cold War Era Soviet “Veteran of Labour” Medal with Award Booklet-1978

Historical Context:

The Medal “Veteran of Labour” (Russian: медаль «Ветеран труда) was a civilian labour award of the Soviet Union established on January 18, 1974 by Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR to honor workers for many years of hard work in the national economy, sciences, culture, education, healthcare, government agencies and public organizations. Although it only had a relatively short eighteen years of existence, it was awarded nearly forty million times. Its regulations were detailed and approved by decree number 5999-VIII of May 20, 1974. Its statute was amended by multiple successive decrees of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, first on June 8, 1977, then on August 12, 1983 and lastly on December 28, 1987. The medal ceased to be awarded following the December 1991 dissolution of the Soviet Union.

Medal Design:

The Medal “Veteran of Labour” was designed by artist SA Pomansky. It was a 34 mm in diameter circular medal struck from tombac and then silver-plated and oxidised. The obverse of the medal bears the relief image of the hammer and sickle over the inscription “USSR” (Russian: «СССР») with diverging rays, a laurel branch spans the width of the obverse from right to left passing under the sickle’s handle in an upward curve, along the lower and right circumference, a ribbon bearing the relief inscription “VETERAN OF LABOUR” (Russian: «ВЕТЕРАН ТРУДА»). The otherwise plain reverse bears the inscription on four lines “FOR LONG DILIGENT WORK” (Russian: «ЗА ДОЛГОЛЕТНИЙ ДОБРОСОВЕСТНЫЙ ТРУД»).

The Medal “Veteran of Labour” was secured by a ring through the medal suspension loop to a standard Soviet pentagonal mount covered by a 24mm wide overlapping ribbon with 1 mm wide white edge stripes and colored from left to right by a 7 mm wide dark grey stripe, an 8 mm wide light grey stripe, and three 2 mm wide red stripes separated by two 0.5 mm wide white stripes.

Apparently, there is a variation of the medal, being struck in silver as opposed to tombac, but this has not yet been verified.

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