'Animal+Hero,+first+Class,'

These medals seem to be in parallel with the medals awarded during the Stakhanov movement, where the hardest workers and the "most passionate communists," also called the shock brigades, were rewarded a medal for being productive. "Members of the shock brigades received special privileges such as tickets to the opera, paid holidays and access to special shops. And the best workers of all were given medals and decorations."... p.12