MOSCOW: Russian President Vladimir Putin yesterday restored an honorary Hero of Labour title that was first awarded in the Lenin era to workers who outperformed their Communist work quotas.
Putin — a former KGB agent who once called the dissolution of the Soviet Union one of the great tragedies of the 20th century — signed a presidential decree restoring the award for the first time since the USSR crumbled in 1991.
“In the Soviet Union, we had a title called the Hero of Socialist Labour, and on the whole, I think this was justified,” Putin said in remarks published on the Kremlin website. “I know that this is the view not only of the machine workers, but of those who generally do things with their hands and use their heads,” the 60-year-old president said.
“This is also the view of our leading professional union,” he added in reference to the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Putin signed a decree restoring the title shortly after making those remarks.
Putin has occasionally tapped populist Soviet themes to boost his standing among older voters who look back on Russia’s Communist days with nostalgia.
He quickly restored the tune of the booming Soviet anthem on his rise to the presidency in 2000 and has since highlighted the positive economic achievements under Stalin. Putin first raised the idea of restoring the Hero of Labour title in December by noting that “it would be good”.
“Only we need to think. We cannot completely copy the Soviet times,” he added at the time.
The Hero of Labour — introduced under Soviet founder Vladimir Lenin in 1921 — was one of the Soviet Union’s most coveted awards and a sign of either a person or factory’s commitment to socialist ideals.
AFP
