After the October Revolution

October Revolution

The October Revolution , also known as the Great October Socialist Revolution , Red October, the October Uprising or the Bolshevik Revolution, was a political revolution and a part of the Russian Revolution of 1917...

, in which the Bolsheviks seized power in Russia, the first Socialist Orders of Merit were founded. After World War II, communists

Communism

Communism is a social, political and economic ideology that aims at the establishment of a classless, moneyless, revolutionary and stateless socialist society structured upon common ownership of the means of production...

 came to power in many other countries and this type of order spread all over the world. In many new African nations this type of decoration was instituted, probably because they were so different from the Orders of Knighthood of the former colonial

Colonialism

Colonialism is the establishment, maintenance, acquisition and expansion of colonies in one territory by people from another territory. It is a process whereby the metropole claims sovereignty over the colony and the social structure, government, and economics of the colony are changed by...

 masters.

Socialist Orders differ from the old European Orders in having just one grade where the old orders had Grand-Crosses , commander

Commander

Commander is a naval rank which is also sometimes used as a military title depending on the individual customs of a given military service. Commander is also used as a rank or title in some organizations outside of the armed forces, particularly in police and law enforcement.-Commander as a naval...

s and Knight

Knight

A knight was a member of a class of lower nobility in the High Middle Ages.By the Late Middle Ages, the rank had become associated with the ideals of chivalry, a code of conduct for the perfect courtly Christian warrior....

s. This scheme was ill at place in the egalitarian nations that would be the promised result of socialism. Because there were no grades, swords on the cross or crowns in silver or gold to differentiate between grades of merit or position in society the communist states chose to create dozens of orders of merit.

Having abolished the orders of the Czar, the first order of the Soviet Union, called "the Order of the Red Flag" (Russian:" Orden Krasnoe Znamja"), was founded on 16 September 1918. In 1940, there were relatively few orders, but in 1941, after the German invasion

Operation Barbarossa

Operation Barbarossa was the code name for Germany's invasion of the Soviet Union during World War II that began on 22 June 1941. Over 4.5 million troops of the Axis powers invaded the USSR along a front., the largest invasion in the history of warfare...

, the Soviet authorities quickly established dozens of new orders and medals.

There are three types of decorations:

• Small stars that are worn on either or both sides of the chest.
• Small golden stars on small square ribbons with clasps.
• Stars, often embellished with red flags , detached from pentagon shaped ribbons..

The Russian Order of Lenin

Order of Lenin

The Order of Lenin , named after the leader of the Russian October Revolution, was the highest decoration bestowed by the Soviet Union...

 and the Golden Medal of the Hamer and Sickle gave the recipients the titles of "Hero of the Soviet Union

Hero of the Soviet Union

The title Hero of the Soviet Union was the highest distinction in the Soviet Union, awarded personally or collectively for heroic feats in service to the Soviet state and society.-Overview:...

" en "Hero of Socialist Labour". These titles were copied in many other countries in the communist bloc.

Yugoslavia

Yugoslavia

Yugoslavia refers to three political entities that existed successively on the western part of the Balkans during most of the 20th century....

 always chose to follow its own policy in creating decorations. Poland

Poland

Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...

 and Czechoslovakia

Czechoslovakia

Czechoslovakia or Czecho-Slovakia was a sovereign state in Central Europe which existed from October 1918, when it declared its independence from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, until 1992...

 stuck to elements of the traditional orders like grand-crosses, commanders and knights but countries like Angola

Angola

Angola, officially the Republic of Angola , is a country in south-central Africa bordered by Namibia on the south, the Democratic Republic of the Congo on the north, and Zambia on the east; its west coast is on the Atlantic Ocean with Luanda as its capital city...

, occupied Afghanistan

Afghanistan

Afghanistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in the centre of Asia, forming South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. With a population of about 29 million, it has an area of , making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world...

 and North-Korea dutifully copied all the models and names of Soviet decorations.

After the collapse of the Soviet Union many of the former socialist nations of eastern Europe and some of the newly independent Soviet republics (re)established orders of knighthood in the European fashion.

The totaliarian regime depicted in George Orwell

George Orwell

Eric Arthur Blair , better known by his pen name George Orwell, was an English author and journalist...

's Nineteen Eighty-Four

Nineteen Eighty-Four

Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell is a dystopian novel about Oceania, a society ruled by the oligarchical dictatorship of the Party...

is mentioned as having an "Order of Conspicuous Merit", divided into at least two classes.

See also

• British and Commonwealth orders and decorations
• Military decoration
  Military decoration
  A military decoration is a decoration given to military personnel or units for heroism in battle or distinguished service. They are designed to be worn on military uniform....
  
  
• State decoration
  State decoration
  State decorations are orders, medals and other decorations granted by a state. International decorations are similar, but are not granted by a specific nation but rather an international organization....
  
  
• Order
  Order (decoration)
  An order or order of merit is a visible honour, awarded by a government, dynastic house or international organization to an individual, usually in recognition of distinguished service to a nation or to humanity. The distinction between orders and decorations is somewhat vague, except that most...
  
  

Literature

• Václav Měřička, "The book of orders and decorations", Londen 1975
• Paul Hieronymussen: "Europaeiske ordner i farver", Kopenhagen 1967