Full cavalier of the Order of Labour Glory, collective-farm mechanizer
Viktor Baklanov arrived from his native Siberian village at the Gigant collective farm in Ukraine as an eighteen-year-old mechanizer in 1967, and over 37 years on the same farm earned all three classes of the Order of Labour Glory to become a full cavalier.
Soviet agricultural worker and state figure who spent his career as a mechanizer at the Gigant collective farm in Dnepropetrovsk Oblast, distinguishing himself in all-Union and republic-level harvest competitions. He became a full cavalier of the Order of Labour Glory, 3rd class (1975), 2nd class (1982), and 1st class (1987), and was elected a People's Deputy of the USSR (1989–1991) on the collective-farm quota during perestroika.
Career Timeline
- 1967–2004Mechanizer, Gigant collective farm, Dnepropetrovsk Oblast
- 1987–1989Deputy, Supreme Soviet of the USSR (11th convocation)
- 1989–1991People's Deputy of the USSR (Union of Collective Farms quota)
- 2004Retired on pension
From Siberia to the Supreme Soviet
Viktor Baklanov was born on 18 January 1949 in the small village of Tyomnoye in the Nizhnetavdinsky District of Tyumen Oblast, Siberia. In 1967, at eighteen, he moved to the Gigant collective farm in Mahdalynivka District, Dnepropetrovsk Oblast, Ukraine, and began work as a mechanizer, remaining at that single farm for 37 years until his retirement.
He distinguished himself in all-Union, republic, oblast, and district harvest competitions. On 15 December 1972, at just 23, he received the Order of the Red Banner of Labour, followed by the Order of Labour Glory 3rd class (1975), 2nd class (1982), and 1st class (1987), becoming a full cavalier. In 1980 he completed the Nikopol Technical School of Agricultural Mechanization by correspondence, combining practical work with study.
In 1987 he was elected a deputy of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR (11th convocation), and in 1989 a People's Deputy of the USSR on the collective-farm quota, carrying the voice of the agricultural worker into the highest organ of power during perestroika. After the dissolution of the USSR, he remained in the former kolkhoz village of Zhdanovka, Ukraine, and died there on 4 June 2019 at the age of 70.