Soviet Booklet for Veteran of Labor Medal

Note: This listing is for the booklet only. The medal is not included.

Soviet Booklet for Veteran of Labor Medal

The Veteran of Labor medal (Ветеран Труда) was established on January 18, 1974 by decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR. It recognized long, dependable service across nearly every part of the Soviet economy: factory and farm labor, sciences, education, healthcare, and government service. Recommendations came jointly from Party and trade union administrators based on nominations from a worker's own enterprise, and the medal itself was typically presented at a ceremony held at the recipient's workplace. Issuance ended with the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991.

This booklet is the credential that accompanied the medal, the paperwork a recipient would have received alongside it, recording their name and the authority that granted the award. Soviet award documentation like this was routinely separated from the medal itself over the decades through resale, inheritance, or simple loss, so finding the paperwork intact on its own is a reasonably common way it survives today, even when the medal it once accompanied is long gone.

It's a small, affordable piece of genuine Soviet civil administration, useful for anyone building a collection of Cold War paper ephemera, Soviet awards documentation, or civilian (rather than military) USSR history. Collectors who already own the medal itself may also want this as the paperwork that would have originally traveled with it.

The Short & Sweet:

• Original Soviet-issued credential document
• Accompanies the Veteran of Labor (Ветеран Труда) medal, established 1974
• Awarded for long, dependable civilian service across the Soviet economy
• Booklet only, no medal included
• Genuine Cold War-era paper ephemera and collectible