The Hero of Socialist Labour () was an honorific title in the Soviet Union and other Warsaw Pact countries from 1938 to 1991. It represented the highest degree of distinction in the USSR and was awarded for exceptional achievements in Soviet industry and culture. It provided a similar status to the title of Hero of the Soviet Union, which was awarded for heroic deeds, but differed in that it was not awarded to foreign citizens.

History

300px|thumb|Street decoration with portraits of Heroes of Socialist Labour. Leningrad, 1984.

The Title "Hero of Socialist Labour" was introduced by decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union on December 27, 1938.

Originally, Heroes of Socialist Labour were awarded the highest decoration of the Soviet Union, the Order of Lenin, and a diploma from the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union. to accompany the Order of Lenin and diploma.

The first recipient of the award was Joseph Stalin, awarded by the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet on December 20, 1939. The second recipient was machine gun designer Vasily Degtyaryov (2 January 1940). The third (and the last before the onset of Operation Barbarossa) was issued to nine weapons designers, including Fedor Tokarev, Boris Shpitalniy, Nikolai Polikarpov, Alexander Yakovlev and Vladimir Klimov. Post-1945 recipients include Mikhail Koshkin, Mikhail Kalashnikov, Nikolai Afanasyev, Emilian Bucov, Alexander Tselikov, Dmitri Shostakovich, Peter Andreevich Tkachev, and Andrei Tupolev.

By September 1, 1971, 16,245 people (11,748 men, 4,497 women) had been awarded the title of Hero of Socialist Labour. One hundred and five people (80 men, 25 women) have been awarded multiple "Hammer and Sickle" medals. By 1991, at the dissolution of the Soviet Union, over 20,000 people had been awarded the title.

In the history of the USSR, 16 people became Heroes of Socialist Labour three times:

  1. Anatoly Alexandrov
  2. Boris Vannikov
  3. Nikolai Dukhov
  4. Yakov Zeldovich
  5. Sergey Ilyushin
  6. Mstislav Keldysh
  7. Dinmukhamed Kunaev
  8. Igor Kurchatov
  9. Andrei Sakharov
  10. Efim Slavsky
  11. Andrei Tupolev
  12. Hamroqul Tursunqulov
  13. Yulii Khariton
  14. Nikita Khrushchev
  15. Konstantin Chernenko
  16. Kirill Shchelkin

In March 2013, Vladimir Putin issued a decree establishing a title considered to be its successor, "Hero of Labour of the Russian Federation".

Statute

The Honorific title "Hero of Socialist Labour" was awarded by the Presidium to citizens who made significant contributions to the advancement of Soviet industry, agriculture, transportation, trade, science and technology,

Award description

The title "Hero of Socialist Labour" was designed by the artist A. Pomansky. Its gold hammer and sickle insignia was a five-pointed star with smooth dihedral rays on the obverse, the diameter of the circumscribed star was 33.5 mm. In the centre of the obverse, a relief hammer and sickle respectively of 14 and 13 mm. It weighed 15.25 grams.