Emblem of the Latvian SSR ( lv, Latvijas PSR valsts ģerbonis) was adopted on August 25, 1940, by the government of the

Latvian SSR The Latvian Soviet Socialist Republic (Latvian SSR), also known as Soviet Latvia or simply Latvia, was a federated republic within the Soviet Union, and formally one of its 16 (later 15) constituent republics. The Latvian Soviet Socialist Rep ...

. It was based on the emblem of the Soviet Union. It features symbols of agriculture (wheat) and Latvia's maritime culture (a

sunset Sunset, also known as sundown, is the daily disappearance of the Sun below the horizon due to Earth's rotation. As viewed from everywhere on Earth (except the North and South poles), the equinox Sun sets due west at the moment of both the spring ...

over the Baltic Sea). The

red star A red star, five-pointed and filled, is a symbol that has often historically been associated with communist ideology, particularly in combination with the hammer and sickle, but is also used as a purely socialist symbol in the 21st century. I ...

as well as the

hammer and sickle The hammer and sickle (Unicode: "☭") zh, s=锤子和镰刀, p=Chuízi hé liándāo or zh, s=镰刀锤子, p=Liándāo chuízi, labels=no is a symbol meant to represent proletarian solidarity, a union between agricultural and industri ...

for the victory of communism and the "world-wide socialist community of states". The banner bears the USSR State motto (" Proletarians of all countries, unite!") in both Latvian language (''Visu zemju proletārieši, savienojieties!'') and Russian. The name of the Latvian SSR is shown only in Latvian, and reads ''Latvijas PSR'', the PSR standing for ''Padomju Sociālistiskā Republika'', or Soviet Socialist Republic. Until 1978, a gold star was used in the state emblem. The coat of arms of Latvia was restored in 1990. The use and exhibition of the emblem of the SSR is now banned in Latvia, due to a law approved in 2013.

History

Flags and Coat of Arms of the Latvian SSR

In the period from the creation of Latvian SSR on July 21 to August 25, 1940, the coat of arms of the Republic of Latvia continued to be used. On August 17, 1940, postage stamps of the 10th standard issue were issued in accordance with the drawings of the artist Jānis Šternbergs with the image of the state small arms. On August 25, 1940, in the second session of the People's Saeima of the LSSR the Constitution of the Latvian SSR was approved, Article 116 of which described the coat of arms of the SSR: In the description it is indicated that the sun "rises from the sea", but due to the geographical features of Latvia, located on the eastern coast of the Baltic Sea, the sun over the sea could be seen only in the west, i.e. on the sunset. This fact then became the reason for many jokes about the decline of socialism in Latvia. The project of the emblem was created by graphic artist

Artūrs Apinis Artūrs or Arturs is a given name. Notable people with the name include: *Arturs Alberings (1876–1934), held the office as Prime Minister of Latvia from 7 May 1926 to 18 December 1926 *Artūrs Bērziņš (born 1988), Latvian basketball player ...

, a former pupil of Rihards Zariņš and a professor of the Art Academy of Latvia. Unlike the arms of the USSR and the arms of the majority of other SSRs, the hammer handle was located above the blade of the sickle, and not under it. Most of the revisions after the creations of the coat of arms were barely noticeable. The new edition of the Regulations on the State Emblem of the Latvian SSR, published in 1979, clarified that "the star is depicted in red" and a color and the outline of the state emblem of the Latvian SSR is given.

Restoration of the Latvian coat of arms

On July 28, 1989, the Supreme Soviet of the Latvian SSR adopted the declaration "On State Sovereignty of the Latvian SSR", and on February 15, 1990, the Supreme Council of the Latvian SSR adopted the Declaration on the State Independence of the Latvian SSR and restored the pre-war Coat of arms of Latvia as the official coat of arms.

References

{{Coat of arms of the Soviet Republics

Latvian Soviet Socialist Republic

Symbols introduced in 1940

History

Restoration of the Latvian coat of arms

See also

References