A Soviet Shock Worker Badge 1917-1932

Description: Bronze with red and white enamels, number stamped "022378" on the support plate, 35 mm x 43.7 mm, maker marked on the screwback, scattered crazing and chipping evident in the white enamels, surface wear, fine. Footnote: This badge was awarded to the best workers, to celebrate the completion of the First Five-Year Plan. This ambitious industrial program was declared a great success and it indeed had jump-started the output of heavy industrial machinery. It did so however at a terrible cost to the countryside, where millions had died or were forced to flee to the cities as the result of forced collectivization. Nevertheless, the completion of the Plan was perceived as justification of Stalin’s policies and solidified his grip on power.