Budapest was lovely, still overcoming the decades of Communism; the country was still trying to find its new identity in a Liberal Western world where they would eventually become a full-fledged member of the EU in 2005. In 1992 the city retained its Soviet looks but with a refreshing atmosphere of expectation and openness to all things new coming from the West. The many beautiful tourist spots of the city had still not learnt to cater to Western tourists, and were largely empty, but with their historical beauty. How different it was from the Budapest I visited again in 2016!
It was in this context that Soviet souvenirs were being sold on the street: the once so mighty Soviet army had befallen to its soldiers selling off clothes and medals for whatever meager price that Westerners like myself were willing to pay. It was a symbol of a defeated empire and for young people like myself, an opportunity to have a small part of a history that even now is just for the books...
I bought this medal that I found in an old box of memories that has traveled from country to country for more than 20 years, and with the magic of AI that we have now, I inquired ChatGPT about the medal. It is in fact not a not a military medal. It is a KOMSOMOL award badge from the 11th Five-Year Plan.
Formed in 1918 immediately after the revolution, KOMSOMOL was the youth wing of the Communist Party of the USSR; an important organisation that functioned as a training ground for aspiring Communists and promoted the ideology among the young. As part of this propaganda the organisation awarded medals for the most outstanding youth, and this medal was probably awarded to a proud young member, - “A Young Guardsman” -, for having distinguished him- or herself (even Guardsman) in working hard in Soviet productivity, technology or innovation, or even just some outstanding work within the KOMSOMOL.
The 11th Five-year plan was the USSRs development plan between 1981 and 1985. These plans were typical Communist centralised blueprints, coordinated and implemented but the State Planning Agency GOSPLAN, that aimed to increase production at almost any cost.
The first plan, between 1928-1932 was prepared under Josef Stalin (1878-1953) with the aim to massively industrialize Soviet society by any means, and it thus led to massive oppression and the death of hundreds of thousands (Despite this, it might have set the USSR in the path to an industrial development that would give it an important fighting chance in WWII).
By the 1980s the focus on the plans were changing. The Soviet state was already lagging behind the West in terms of productivity and technology, and the focus on the 11th plan was rather to integrate production and renew and replace hardware to make it more efficient.
After this, there were two more plans: the 12th plan in 1985 was Mikhail Gorbachev's (1931-2022) plan to accelerate industrial production and decentralise power, implementing "perestroyka". By 1989, under deep social and political pressure, the plan had failed to stop the economic decline of the USSR. A new plan, the 13th, was designed, but it barely started to be implemented as the USSR fell apart, and GOSPLAN ceased to exist.
This is the little memory and story behind this little souvenir from an Empire and a time that no longer exists! According to the AI they are quite common, so probably of little value, some EUR 50, perhaps a bit more for a collector. But in my little world, it has great personal and historical value!
