Youth labour actions badges (Yugoslavia)

[BalkanCollector]

I started gaining interest in Yugoslav youth labour actions (omladinske radne akcije) badges recently and I couldn't find any thread related to the subject so I decided to create one. I will post examples from my collection and I'll try to give some information if possible.

First and foremost, the badge Youth Railway 1946 (Omladinska pruga 1946) of the first post-war youth labour action in Yugoslavia. It is said that 62.268 people, mainly youth volunteers, built 90km of railway from May 1st 1946 until November 7th 1946 and connected the two cities, Brčko and Banovići. These badges came with small booklets isued to recipients of the badge but I only have the badge unfortunately.

[BalkanCollector]

Another similar badge for a different labour action, Youth Railway 1947 (Omladinska pruga 1947). Railway Šamac-Sarajevo (242km) was built from April 1st 1947 until November 15th 1947 and it is said that 217.234 people participated it the labour action. 

 

[Gordon Craig]

Interesting small badges that I haven't seen before.  Looking forward to seeing more of your collection of these badges.

Regards,

Gordon

 

[BalkanCollector]

Thank you Gordon! Stay tuned for more although I don't have a lot of them since I only started collecting these recently.

Keeping up with the theme...Youth Railway 1951 (Omladinska pruga 1951). Railway Doboj-Banja Luka (90km) was built from March 1st 1951 until December 20th 1951 and it is estimated that over 87.000 of people participated in this labour action. The difference between the first two badges I posted and this one is that the first two badges are pressed sheet metal and this one is a heavier full chunk of metal.

[BalkanCollector]

This one is a personal favorite. Vinodol 1952 badge for the construction of hydroelectric power plant Vinodol and the road Delnice-Gornje Jelenje. Unfortunately I don't know much more but I've seen the same badge with years 1953, 1954 and 1955.

Edited January 9, 2021 by BalkanCollector

[BalkanCollector]

Perhaps one of the most famous labour actions was the Highway Brotherhood and Unity. The first part was built between Zagreb and Belgrade in the length of around 400km of highway. The preparations lasted from 1946 until 1948 and the work started on April 1st 1948 and it lasted until July 15th 1950.

I've seen different badges for this labour action but I only have the one from 1949. The one from 1950 looks the same like this one but it obviously has a different year on it and instead of the white enamel part where there's the text bratstvo-jedinstvo it has light blue enamel. I've also seen a star shaped badges with a screw on the back and with a date 29.XI.1949. on them. These are more rare and more expensive.

Here's the example of the badge from my collection.

 

[BalkanCollector]

The work to connect north with south of Yugoslavia continued 8 years after the Zagreb-Beograd part of the highway was built. These were the highway labour actions by a year:

1958 - Zagreb-Ljubljana (80km, 53,323 people)
1959 - Niš-Paraćin and Demir Kapija-Negotino (110km in total, around 51,000 people)
1960 - Niš-Grdelica and Udovo-Gevgelija (113km in total, around 48,557 people)
1961 - Grdelica-Skopje (138km, 46,699 people)
1962 - some final work on the highway and I think this includes parts of highway in Serbia and Macedonia
1963 - Osipaonica-Beograd

It is said that 251,737 people participated in the labour actions from 1958 until 1963 which finally completed the highway and connected Ljubljana with Gevgelija. I think that the number 251,737 is based on the addition of the number of people who participated in each of these actions and not the total number of different people so I believe that the number of different people participating in these actions is lower since there were people who participated in multiple of these. For example my grandpa participated in two actions, the one in 1958 and the one in 1959 so his share in the total number of people 251,737 is most likely 2.

I've only seen one badge design for the highway labour actions from 1958 until 1963 but with different years on them. Here are two examples from my collection with years 1959 and 1962 on them.

1959

1962

[BalkanCollector]

Now some documents...

Here's the group of documents issued to my grandpa. He participated in two youth labour actions, Highway Brotherhood and Unity 1958 (Ljubljana-Zagreb) and 1959 (Paraćin-Niš). He was a regular worker (brigadir) in 1958 and a commander of company (komandir čete) in 1959 when he earned a shock worker (udarnik) badge. He was a worker of the 3rd Belgrade Youth Labour Brigade which held the name "Žikica Jovanović Španac" in 1958 and "Boris Kidrič" in 1959. My grandpa got three badges, highway 1958 and 1959 badge and a shock worker 1959 badge. Unfortunately, the badges are lost and I only have his documents.

Highway 1958

Highway 1959

 

[BalkanCollector]

Probably the most famous Yugoslav labour badge of them all, the shock worker (udarnik) badge. Shock workers were highly productive workers and they got these badges for their labour merits.

There are many of these badges with different years on them and some of them even have extra writing. For example the youth railway (omladinska pruga) or highway (autoput) which indicates that the badge was meant to be given to a shock worker who worked on these labour actions.

Here is my shock worker badge from 1959.

[Gordon Craig]

23 hours ago, BalkanCollector said:

Now some documents...

Here's the group of documents issued to my grandpa. He participated in two youth labour actions, Highway Brotherhood and Unity 1958 (Ljubljana-Zagreb) and 1959 (Paraćin-Niš). He was a regular worker (brigadir) in 1958 and a commander of company (komandir čete) in 1959 when he earned a shock worker (udarnik) badge. He was a worker of the 3rd Belgrade Youth Labour Brigade which held the name "Žikica Jovanović Španac" in 1958 and "Boris Kidrič" in 1959. My grandpa got three badges, highway 1958 and 1959 badge and a shock worker 1959 badge. Unfortunately, the badges are lost and I only have his documents.

Highway 1958

Highway 1959

 

Interesting documents.  Since the badges don't appear to have been numbered you could match any badge to these documents as well earned achievements.  I have a number of similar Hungarian badges for building factories etc.   Thanks for posting these interesting pieces of history.

Regards,

Gordon

  

[BalkanCollector]

17 hours ago, Gordon Craig said:

Since the badges don't appear to have been numbered you could match any badge to these documents as well earned achievements.

Indeed! It would be more interesting if they were numbered but at least you can match any badge to a document to complete the set.

17 hours ago, Gordon Craig said:

I have a number of similar Hungarian badges for building factories etc.

I would really like to see them. Please send me a private message with a link if you posted them somewhere.

[BalkanCollector]

Adriatic Highway (Jadranska magistrala) 1964 badge. Adriatic Highway stretches along the eastern coast of the Adriatic Sea and it passes through Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Montenegro. It was built during the '50s and '60s but I've only seen the badge with a year 1964 on it.

[Gordon Craig]

7 hours ago, BalkanCollector said:

Indeed! It would be more interesting if they were numbered but at least you can match any badge to a document to complete the set.

I would really like to see them. Please send me a private message with a link if you posted them somewhere.

My Hungarian collection is all packed away but when I find time I'll dig out what I have and do a thread on them.

Regards,

Gordon

 

[BalkanCollector]

Great! Please let me know when you open the thread in case I miss it.

[BalkanCollector]

The road Čačak-Titovo Užice 1960 badge. It's interesting that the road was built the same year as parts of the Highway Brotherhood and Unity as shown in one of the previous posts. Other than that, I don't know much about the badge nor the labour action for which it was issued.

On 10/01/2021 at 14:51, BalkanCollector said:

1960 - Niš-Grdelica and Udovo-Gevgelija (113km in total, around 48,557 people)

[nickstrenk]

I am going to add one.It would be interesting,how much is that badge?I mean the price.10euro?

[BalkanCollector]

Very nice badge! It's a youth railway 1947 shock worker badge. These are rarer than the regular shock worker badges with a year only. I've seen them go for as much as 20€.

[BalkanCollector]

It's been some time since I updated this thread. The reason was the lack of new additions to my collection.

 

I finally got this a bit more rare piece, Youth Factory "Ivo-Lola Ribar" Železnik, Belgrade. The factory was built from April 1947 until early 1948 during which 15,566 members of the youth participated in the construction. There are two types of badges from this youth labour action. The one I have is from 1948 and the cyrillic writing on it says ОМЛАДИНСКА ФАБРИКА „ИВО-ЛОЛА РИБАР“ ЖЕЛЕЗНИК (Omladiska fabrika „Ivo-Lola Ribar“ Železnik). The one from 1947 looks the same but the writing is different „ОМЛАДИНСКА ТВОРНИЦА ЖЕЛЕЗНИК“ (Omladinska tvornica Železnik) and of course the year is different.

 

 

 

[fasteddy1947]

I have just come across 5 different medals of this type, found this forum while tring to research on what they were. this is all very interesting. Any additional info on these would be welcome.

 

Ed

 

Here is the Udarnik Badge close up...

[BalkanCollector]

Hello Ed! You have some very nice badges. I see you're from Canada so I believe two Canadian volunteers got these badges. Each got a Youth Railway 1947 badge and a Foreign Brigadier badge, and one of them also got the Shock Worker badge. More info about the badges below.

 

You have two of these badges I posted in the top row:

On 09/01/2021 at 16:14, BalkanCollector said:

Youth Railway 1947 (Omladinska pruga 1947). Railway Šamac-Sarajevo (242km) was built from April 1st 1947 until November 15th 1947 and it is said that 217.234 people participated it the labour action. 

 

In the middle is a Youth Railway 1947 shock worker badge. Shock workers were those who exceeded the labour norm.

 

In the bottom row you have two rare badges to foreign brigadiers (labour action participants) who participated in the Youth Railway labour action. You can see the similar design and correlation to the badge in the top row.

 

[fasteddy1947]

Thanks for the info. The story as I have been told it is as follows, My wifes  Croation Grandfather, Grandmother, and their three sons who were living in Canada were part of a group of Canadians who returned to Yugoslavia to help rebuild the country.  These medals were obviously awarded to the sons for there participation and hard work. My wife's Uncle, the youngest son, (who just passed away at the age of 94) described the conditions as horrific, needless to say they all, after a short while left the country and slowly made their way back to Canada. I'm wondering if you could put a value on these, I'm thinking that I might want to move them on to someone who would value them for what they are. Here is an excerpt of an article I found on the topic of the Canadian return movement to Yugoslavia.

 

 

 

Edited October 18, 2021 by fasteddy1947

[BalkanCollector]

Thank you for the interesting info! Living in Canada for such a long time where your family didn't experience the tragedies and destruction of war at first hand, it must have been awful to come to a poor country devastated by the war.

 

As for the prices, two Youth Railway 1947 badges at the top row are the cheapest. I've seen them go for about 5-8€, that would be each. I've seen these Shock Worker 1947 badges in the middle go for as much as 20€ but I would put the price anywhere from 10-20€, depending how lucky you can get selling them. The last two badges in the bottom row would be the most expensive although I've seen one go for about 2€ on some Czech auction site. I guess the seller didn't quite know what he had since these are rare and a bit more expensive. I've also seen one on ebay which was sold for about 20€ but I think you could possibly get even more, it all depends on how bad someone wants it and how much he's willing to pay. Hope this gives you a general idea and thank you again for sharing the pictures and the story!

[BalkanCollector]

It's been a while since I got new additions to the theme so here are two more I got recently.

 

Youth railway Nikšić - Titograd (today Podgorica), Montenegro. The construction started in April 1947 and the railway was put into operation on July 12, 1948. Today, the railway is 56.5km long, it passes through 12 tunnels (total length of 3,439m) and across nine bridges (overall length of 279 m).

 

 

[BalkanCollector]

Pioneer City and Railway (Pionirski grad i željeznica) 1948. This complex was built on the outskirts of Zagreb, Croatia and it served as an excursion/picnic/vacation camp for children (pioneers). The complex was built from 1948 until 1951 and I've also seen badges with the year 1950 on them but they have a vertical pin. Pioneer City's glory days are long gone and today it's called The City of the Youth (Grad mladih) but most people still call it by its old nickname "pionirac". Today, it's a walking/recreation park mostly in a poor condition.

 

 

 

[BalkanCollector]

The copper factory in Sevojno, Serbia that's still operating under the name Valjaonica Bakra Sevojno. It was built from 1950 until 1952.

 

Kombinat 1950 Sevojno (Комбинат 1950, Севојно).