Warsaw Pact medal ID needed

[Ed_Haynes]

From the Kravchenko group. http://gmic.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=6207 Unfortunately mis-mounted on the usual Soviet all-purpose red ribbon.

Identification, please???

And can someone show (or help me get) the real thing?

[Carol I]

On the reverse is written "Plovdiv" which is a city in Bulgaria, so probably the medal is Bulgarian as well.

[Lukasz Gaszewski]

This is a medal, commemorating the 25th anniversary of the Volunteer Labor Units (Доброволните Отряди на Трудещите се) - a paramilitary labor organization. Such organizations were another "all bloc" invention, present in practically all communist countries (I believe some ot these organizations still exist, but their role is marginal). This is most probably a local Plovdiv type of the medal (there is also a "national" type of a different design), probably limited in scope and therefore quite rare. It is difficult to say if the ribbon is correct - the "national" type was suspended from a plain red ribbon bar.

Lukasz

[Ed_Haynes]

Thanks to both of you!