The International Lenin Peace Prize () was a Soviet Union award named in honor of Vladimir Lenin. It was awarded by a panel appointed by the Soviet government to notable individuals whom the panel indicated had "strengthened peace among comrades". It was founded as the International Stalin Prize for Strengthening Peace Among Peoples, but was renamed the International Lenin Prize for Strengthening Peace Among Peoples () as a result of de-Stalinization. Unlike the Nobel Prize, the Lenin Peace Prize was usually awarded to several people a year rather than to just one individual. The prize was mainly awarded to prominent communists and supporters of the Soviet Union who were not Soviet citizens. Notable recipients include W. E. B. Du Bois, Fidel Castro, Lázaro Cárdenas, Salvador Allende, Mikis Theodorakis, Seán MacBride, Angela Davis, Pablo Picasso, Oscar Niemeyer, Faiz Ahmad Faiz, Abdul Sattar Edhi, Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti, CV Raman, Mihail Sadoveanu, Nelson Mandela and Kwame Nkrumah. , the only living prize laureate is Angela Davis.
History The prize was created as the International Stalin Prize for Strengthening Peace Among Peoples on December 21, 1949, by executive order of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet in honor of Joseph Stalin's seventieth birthday (although this was after his seventy-first).
Following Nikita Khrushchev's denunciation of Stalin in 1956 during the Twentieth Party Congress, the prize was renamed on September 6 as the International Lenin Prize for Strengthening Peace Among Peoples. All previous recipients were asked to return their Stalin Prizes so they could be replaced by the renamed Lenin Prize. By a decision of Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of December 11, 1989, the prize was renamed the International Lenin Peace Prize. Two years later, after the collapse of USSR in 1991, the Russian government, as the successor state to the defunct Soviet Union, ended the award program. The Lenin Peace Prize is regarded as a counterpart to the existing Nobel Peace Prize.
The International Lenin Prize should not be confused with the International Peace Prize, awarded by the World Peace Council. In 1941 the Soviet Union created the Stalin Prize (later renamed the USSR State Prize), which was awarded annually to accomplished Soviet writers, composers, artists and scientists.
Stalin Prize recipients
YearPictureNameOccupationCountryNotes1950Eugénie CottonО присуждении международных Сталинских премий "За укрепление мира между народами" за 1950 год. Pravda. Apr 6, 1951 (1881–1967)Scientist, President of the Women's International Democratic FederationAwarded 6 April 1951Heriberto Jara Corona(1879–1968)Politician, revolutionaryAwarded 6 April 1951Hewlett Johnson(1874–1966)Church of England priest, Dean of Manchester (1924–1931), Dean of Canterbury (1931–1963)Awarded 6 April 1951Frédéric Joliot-Curie(1900–1958)Physicist, Member of the French Academy of Sciences, Professor at the Collège de France, President of the World Peace Council (1950–1958), Nobel laureate in Chemistry (1935)Awarded 6 April 1951Arthur Moulton(1873–1962)Episcopal Bishop of Utah DeclinedPak Chong-ae(1907–after 1986)Workers' Party of North Korea politician, Chairwoman of the Korean Democratic Women's League (1945–1965)Awarded 6 April 1951Soong Ching-ling(1893–1981)Revolutionary Committee of the Chinese Kuomintang politician, Vice President of China (1949–1954; 1959–1975)Awarded 6 April 19511951Jorge Amado(1912–2001)Writer, Member of the Brazilian Academy of Letters (1961–2001)Awarded 20 December 1951Monica Felton(1906–1970)Town planner, feminist, politicianAwarded 20 December 1951Guo Moruo(1892–1978)Writer, scientist, politician, President of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (1949–1978)Awarded 20 December 1951Pietro Nenni(1891–1980)Italian Socialist Party politician, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Italy (1946–1947; 1968–1969), Deputy Prime Minister of Italy (1963–1968)Awarded 20 December 1951Oyama Ikuo(1889–1955)Politician, Member of the House of Councillors of JapanAwarded 20 December 1951Anna Seghers(1900–1983)Writer, Socialist Unity Party politician, founding member of the DDR Academy of ArtsAwarded 20 December 19511952Johannes R. Becher(1891–1958)Writer, Socialist Unity Party politician, founding member of the DDR Academy of ArtsAwarded 20 December 1952Elisa Branco(1912–2001)Brazilian Communist Party politician, Vice President of the Council of Brazilian Advocates for Peace (1949–1960)Awarded 20 December 1952Ilya Ehrenburg(1891–1967)Writer, journalist, war correspondent for World War I, the Spanish Civil War, and World War II Awarded 20 December 1952James Gareth Endicott(1898–1993)United Church of Canada clergyman, founder of Canadian Peace Congress,Awarded 20 December 1952Yves Farge(1899–1953)Journalist, politicianAwarded 20 December 1952Halldór Laxness(1902–1998)Writer, Nobel laureate in Literature (1955)Awarded 20 December 1952Saifuddin Kitchlew(1888–1963)Barrister, politician, Vice President of the World Peace Council (1955–1959), President of the All-India Peace CouncilAwarded 20 December 1952Paul Robeson(1898–1976)Singer, actor, civil rights movement activist, Awarded 20 December 19521953Andrea Andreen(1888–1972)Physician, educator, Chairman of the Swedish Women's Left-Wing Association (1946–1964), Vice President of the Women's International Democratic FederationAwarded 12 December 1953 John Desmond Bernal(1901–1971)Scientist, Professor at Birkbeck College, University of London, Fellow of the Royal Society (1937), President of the World Peace Council (1959–1965)Awarded 12 December 1953Isabelle Blume(1892–1975)Belgian Labour Party politician, Member of the Belgian Chamber of Representatives for Brussels (1936–1954), President of the World Peace Council (1965–1969)Awarded 12 December 1953Pierre Cot(1895–1977)Radical Party politician, Member of the National Assembly of France for Savoie and Rhône (1928–1940)Awarded 12 December 1953Howard Fast(1914–2003)Writer, 1952 American Labor Party presidential candidateAwarded 12 December 1953(1916–1988)PriestAwarded 12 December 1953Leon Kruczkowski(1900–1962)Writer, Member of the Sejm (1947–1962)Awarded 12 December 1953Pablo Neruda(1904–1973)Poet, diplomat, Nobel laureate in Literature (1971)Awarded 12 December 1953Nina Popova(1908–1994)Politician, Secretary of the All-Union Central Council of Trade Unions (1945–1957)Awarded 12 December 1953Sahib Singh Sokhey(1887–1971)Biochemist, Member of the Indian Academy of Sciences, Assistant Director General of the World Health Organization (1949–1952)Awarded 12 December 19531954André Bonnard In some cases in GSE's 3rd edition the year is that, "in which" the Prize was awarded, in other cases – "for which". Hence, the year "1970" there seems to be the Prize "for 1969" or "for 1968–1969"(1888–1959)Scholar, writer, Professor at the University of LausanneAwarded 18 December 1954Bertolt Brecht(1898–1956)Playwright, poet, theatre director (citizenship) (residence)Awarded 18 December 1954Nicolás Guillén(1902–1989)PoetAwarded 18 December 1954Felix Iversen(1887–1973)Mathematician, Professor at the University of Helsinki, Chairman of the Peace Union of FinlandAwarded 18 December 1954Thakin Kodaw Hmaing(1876–1964)PoetAwarded 18 December 1954Alain Le Léap(1905–1986)Trade unionist, General Secretary of the General Confederation of Labour (1948–1957)Awarded 18 December 1954Prijono(1907–1969)Academic, Dean of the Faculty of Letters of the University of Indonesia (1950–1956)Awarded 18 December 1954Denis Pritt(1887–1972)Barrister, Labour Independent Group politician, Member of Parliament of the United Kingdom for Hammersmith North (1935–1950)Awarded 18 December 1954Baldomero Sanín Cano(1861–1957)Essayist, linguist, journalistAwarded 18 December 19541955Muhammad al-AshmarО присуждении международных Сталинских премий "За укрепление мира между народами" за 1955 год. Pravda. Dec 21, 1955, page 1 (1892–1960)Rebel commander in Great Syrian Revolt and 1936–1939 Arab revolt in Palestine, Syrian Communist Party politicianAwarded 9 December 1955Lázaro Cárdenas(1895–1970)Mexican Army general, Institutional Revolutionary Party politician, President of Mexico (1934–1940)Awarded 9 December 1955(1894–1975)Priest, Chaplain of Oslo Cathedral (1947–1964)Awarded 9 December 1955Seki Akiko(1899–1973)SingerAwarded 9 December 1955Tôn Đức Thắng(1888–1980)Communist Party of Vietnam politician, Chairman of the National Assembly of North Vietnam (1955–1960), President of North Vietnam (1969–1976), President of Vietnam (1976–1980)Awarded 9 December 1955Karl Joseph Wirth(1879–1956)Bund der Deutschen politician, Chancellor of the Weimar Republic (1921–1922)Awarded 9 December 1955Unknown year (before 1953)Martin Andersen Nexø(1869–1954)Writer
Lenin Prize recipients