Soviet Russian Medal Development of Virgin Lands Cultivation VARIATION 1 ORIGNAL

Description

Soviet Medal for Development of Virgin Lands, VARIATION 1 (with flat eyelet), late 1950s- early 1960s issue.
This is a GUARANTEED ORIGINAL medal made at the Soviet Mint and officially awarded by the Soviet Government – NOT a recent replica!
Made in Solid brass, measures 32.1 mm wide; weighs 14.3 g not including the suspension and connecting link. The medal is Variation 1 characterized by its flat eyelet (rather than the rounded eyelet that is typical of the Soviet medals of later vintage).
The medal is in VERY GOOD CONDITION. There are some minor dings to the raised edge, more visible on the reverse than the obverse and not too detractive.  The raised details of the artwork and lettering are well-preserved and crisp on both sides. The toning to the brass is attractive and even, and some of the original “gilt” mint luster (shtemplelnyi blesk in Russian) is still present and clearly visible in recessed areas. The medal is completely free of blemishes and oxidation spots. Comes on original aluminum suspension with a clean, well-preserved old ribbon.
This Khrushchev era award was bestowed upon the foremost workers who had been a part of the massive effort to develop the arid steppes of Kazakhstan and southeastern Russia. The Virgin Lands campaign of the late 50s was a part of the overall effort to jump-start Soviet agriculture and despite the initial promise and some bumper crops, it eventually fizzled. By the mid-60s, the failure of Khrushchev’s agricultural policies had become apparent to all and it was one of the major reasons for his downfall. The Soviet Union eventually had to resort to buying grain from its archenemies Canada and USA; it also was forced to sell oil and other raw materials to the West to obtain hard currency - a previously unthinkable proposition. It is ironic that while vast resources from machinery to young workers were pouring into collectivized agriculture, tiny private plots allowed by the Soviet regime to the collective farmers were turning out an almost equal amount of agricultural products in the country.
None of this was of course acknowledged by the official Soviet propaganda which continued to trumpet the Virgin Lands campaign as a great success. Leonid Brezhnev was one of the early participants of this effort (as a party apparatchik of course, not a tractor driver) and later published a memoirs book “Virgin Lands” which became required reading in all Soviet schools.
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