The State Flag of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (), commonly known as the Soviet flag (), was the official state flag of the
Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) from 1922 to 1991. The flag's design and symbolism are derived from several sources, but emerged during the
Russian Revolution
The Russian Revolution was a period of Political revolution (Trotskyism), political and social revolution that took place in the former Russian Empire which began during the First World War. This period saw Russia abolish its monarchy and ad ...
. The flag is also an international
symbol
A symbol is a mark, sign, or word that indicates, signifies, or is understood as representing an idea, object, or relationship. Symbols allow people to go beyond what is known or seen by creating linkages between otherwise very different conc ...
of the
communist movement as a whole.
The design is a solid field of
red adorned with a unique
gold emblem in the
upper hoist quarter. The
red flag Red flag may refer to:
* Red flag (idiom), a metaphor for something signalling a problem
** Red flag warning, a term used by meteorologists
** Red flag (battle ensign), maritime flag signaling an intention to give battle with no quarter (fight to ...
was a traditional
revolutionary symbol long before 1917, and its incorporation into the flag paid tribute to the international aspect of workers' revolution. The iconic
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 ...
design was a modern industrial touch adopted from the Russian Revolution. The union of the hammer (
workers) and the sickle (
peasants) represents the victorious and enduring revolutionary alliance. The famous emblem is topped by a gold-bordered
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 ...
representing the
Communist Party of the Soviet Union
"Hymn of the Bolshevik Party"
, headquarters = 4 Staraya Square, Moscow
, general_secretary = Vladimir Lenin (first) Mikhail Gorbachev (last)
, founded =
, banned =
, founder = Vladimir Lenin
, newspaper ...
.
The first flag was adopted in December 1922. In 1923, 1924, 1936 and 1955, a statute on the flag was adopted which resulted in a change of the hammer's handle length and the shape of the sickle. In 1980, an amendment was made to the 1955 decree which removed the hammer and sickle on the reverse side of the flag, the legal description remained completely unchanged. The design of the 1955 Soviet flag has served as the basis for all the
Soviet republic flags.
Symbolism and design
The flag of the Soviet Union consisted of a plain
red flag Red flag may refer to:
* Red flag (idiom), a metaphor for something signalling a problem
** Red flag warning, a term used by meteorologists
** Red flag (battle ensign), maritime flag signaling an intention to give battle with no quarter (fight to ...
with a gold
hammer
A hammer is a tool, most often a hand tool, consisting of a weighted "head" fixed to a long handle that is swung to deliver an impact to a small area of an object. This can be, for example, to drive nails into wood, to shape metal (as w ...
crossed with a gold
sickle placed beneath a gold-bordered
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 ...
. This symbol is in the upper left
canton
Canton may refer to:
Administrative division terminology
* Canton (administrative division), territorial/administrative division in some countries, notably Switzerland
* Township (Canada), known as ''canton'' in Canadian French
Arts and ent ...
of the red flag.
The colour
red honours the
red flag Red flag may refer to:
* Red flag (idiom), a metaphor for something signalling a problem
** Red flag warning, a term used by meteorologists
** Red flag (battle ensign), maritime flag signaling an intention to give battle with no quarter (fight to ...
of the
Paris Commune of 1871 and 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 ...
and
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 ...
are
symbols of communism
Communist symbolism represents a variety of themes, including revolution, the proletariat, peasantry, agriculture, or international solidarity.
Communist states, parties and movements use these symbols to advance and create solidarity within t ...
and
socialism.
The hammer symbolises urban
industrial workers while the sickle symbolises
agricultural
Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating Plant, plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of Sedentism, sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of Domestication, domesticated species created food ...
workers (
peasants)—who together, as the
Proletarian class, form the state. 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 ...
represents the
Communist Party, and its position over the hammer and sickle symbolises its leading role in
socialist society
The Socialist Society was founded in 1981 by a group of British socialists, including Raymond Williams and Ralph Miliband, who founded it as an organisation devoted to socialist education and research, linking the left of the British Labour Party ...
to unify and enlighten the workers and peasants in the building of
communism.
The flag's design was legislated in 1955, which gave a clear way to define and create the flag. This resulted in a change of the hammer's handle length and the shape of the sickle. The adopted statute stated that:
#The ratio of width to length of the flag is 1:2.
#The hammer and sickle are in a square with sides equal to of the flag's height. The sharp tip of the sickle lies in the center of the upper side of the square, and the handles of the hammer and sickle rest in the bottom corners of the square. The length of the hammer and its handle is of the square diagonal
#The five-pointed star is inscribed into a circle with a diameter of of the flag's height, the circle being tangent to the upper side of the square.
#The distance of the vertical axis of the star, hammer and sickle from the hoist is of the flag's height. The distance from the upper side of the flag to the center of the star is of the flag's height.
Officially since 1980, the reverse side of the flag was a plain red field without the hammer and sickle. In practice however, this was very commonly disregarded by flag makers as it was far easier and less costly to simply print the flag
through and through, with the obverse design mirrored on the reverse. It was also common to see the reverse of the flag bear the hammer and sickle in the obverse formation. An example of the flag demonstrating its ''de jure'' status as being only one-sided is that of the Soviet flag atop the
Moscow Kremlin
The Kremlin ( rus, Московский Кремль, r=Moskovskiy Kreml', p=ˈmɐˈskofskʲɪj krʲemlʲ, t=Moscow Kremlin) is a fortified complex in the center of Moscow founded by the Rurik dynasty. It is the best known of the kremlins (R ...
which bore the single-side official design.
For vertical display, the flag was made with the distinct difference of having the hammer and sickle rotated 90 degrees in order to compensate for the change in dimensions. This was common in official practice, however the common flag owner would simply hang the standard design of the flag by the
hoist
Hoist may refer to:
* Hoist (device), a machine for lifting loads
* Hoist controller, a machine for raising and lowering goods or personnel by means of a cable
* Hydraulic hooklift hoist, another machine
* Hoist (mining), another machine
* Hoist ( ...
.
History
During the establishment of the
Russian Soviet Republic,
Vladimir Lenin and his comrades had considered the inclusion of a sword symbol in addition to the hammer and sickle as part of the
state seal on which the flag was eventually based. The idea was dismissed as too visually aggressive, with Lenin apparently affirming, "A sword is not one of our symbols."
The first official flag was adopted in December 1922 at the First Congress of Soviets of the USSR. It was agreed that the red banner "was transformed from the symbol of the Party to the symbol of a state, and around that flag gathered the peoples of the soviet republics to unite into one state — the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics". On 30 December 1922, the Congress adopted a Declaration and Agreement on the establishment of the USSR. Article 22 of the Agreement states: "The USSR has a flag, coat of arms and a state seal." The description of the first flag was given in the
1924 Soviet Constitution
The 1924 Constitution of the Soviet Union was the constitution of the Soviet Union adopted on 31 January 1924. According to Archie Brown the constitution was never an accurate guide to political reality in the USSR. For example, the fact that th ...
, accepted in the second session of the executive committee (CIK) of the USSR on 6 July 1923. The text of article 71 states: "The state flag of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics consists of a
red or
scarlet
Scarlet may refer to:
* Scarlet (cloth), a type of woollen cloth common in medieval England
* Scarlet (color), a bright tone of red that is slightly toward orange, named after the cloth
* Scarlet (dye), the dye used to give the cloth its color
* ...
field with states
coat of arms." It was ordered with the unusual ratio of 4:1 in proportion and consisted of a
red flag Red flag may refer to:
* Red flag (idiom), a metaphor for something signalling a problem
** Red flag warning, a term used by meteorologists
** Red flag (battle ensign), maritime flag signaling an intention to give battle with no quarter (fight to ...
with the state coat of arms in the center. However, such a flag was never mass-produced. This flag was the official flag for four months, and was replaced as the official flag by the more familiar
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 ...
design during the third session of the CIK of the USSR on 12 November 1923.
In the third session of the CIK of the USSR, the description of Soviet flag in the Constitution was changed, and article 71 was edited to read: "The state flag of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics consists of a red or scarlet field, and in the canton a golden sickle and hammer, and a red five-pointed star bordered in gold above them. The ratio of width to length is 1:2." On 19 August 1955, the Statute on the State Flag of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was adopted by a decision of the
Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR. This resulted in a change of the hammer's handle length and the shape of the sickle. On 15 August 1980, a new edition of the Statute on the State Flag of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was adopted, which did not make any changes to the flag's description aside from removing the hammer and sickle on the reverse side of the flag.
From this point on, the flag stayed in use with this design until the disintegration of the USSR on 26 December 1991, at which time it ceased to be a national flag and replaced by national flags of the
post-Soviet republics.
On 15 April 1996
Boris Yeltsin signed a presidential decree giving the Soviet flag (called the
Victory Banner, after the banner that was raised above the
Reichstag on 1 May 1945) status similar to that of the national flag. The hammer and sickle were removed from the flag, leaving only the star, but they were reinstated later. On certain holidays, the Victory Banner is flown along with the Russian flag.
Contemporary usage
In current times, the Soviet national flag (and similar flags) are widely used by those on the
political far left, most often by those who support
Marxism–Leninism. In the post-Soviet space, the flags often used are those of the
union republics (in particular those where the demonstrations are held).
The Soviet flag is also often used as a symbol of
nostalgia for the Soviet Union and the sacrifices of the
Soviet people
Soviet people ( rus, сове́тский наро́д, r=sovyétsky naród), or citizens of the USSR ( rus, гра́ждане СССР, grázhdanye SSSR), was an umbrella demonym for the population of the Soviet Union.
Nationality policy in t ...
and soldiers that perished in the
Great Patriotic War.
On April 19, 2022, the
CPRF proposed to the
State Duma
The State Duma (russian: Госуда́рственная ду́ма, r=Gosudárstvennaja dúma), commonly abbreviated in Russian as Gosduma ( rus, Госду́ма), is the lower house of the Federal Assembly of Russia, while the upper house ...
the adoption of the Soviet flag as the official
flag of Russia.
Flag of the Soviet Union (1922–1923).svg, (30 December 1922 – 12 November 1923)
Flag of the Soviet Union (1924).svg, (12 November 1923 – 18 April 1924)
Flag of the Soviet Union (1924–1936).svg, (18 April 1924 – 5 December 1936)
Flag of the Soviet Union (1924–1955).svg, (5 December 1936 – 19 August 1955)
Flag of the Soviet Union.svg, (19 August 1955 – 26 December 1991)
Similarities with other flags
The
Soviet Union was the world's first
constitutionally
A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organisation or other type of entity and commonly determine how that entity is to be governed.
When these princip ...
socialist state, making it the inspiration of future socialist states. This led to the inspirations for the
flags of the Republic of Angola, the
People's Republic of China, the
Democratic People's Republic of Korea
North Korea, officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the northern half of the Korean Peninsula and shares borders with China and Russia to the north, at the Yalu (Amnok) and ...
, and the
Socialist Republic of Vietnam.
Flag of Angola.svg, Flag of Angola
Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg, Flag of China
Flag of North Korea.svg, Flag of North Korea
Flag_of_Vietnam.svg, Flag of North Vietnam (1955–1976) and Vietnam (1976–present)
Derivatives from the Soviet flag
The
flags of the Soviet republics that constituted the USSR and the Victory Banner were all
defaced or modified versions of the Soviet flag.
Flag of Russian SFSR.svg, Russian SFSR
Flag of Armenian SSR.svg, Armenian SSR
The Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic,; russian: Армянская Советская Социалистическая Республика, translit=Armyanskaya Sovetskaya Sotsialisticheskaya Respublika) also commonly referred to as Soviet A ...
Flag of Azerbaijan SSR.svg, Azerbaijan SSR
Azerbaijan ( az, Азәрбајҹан, Azərbaycan, italics=no), officially the Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic (Azerbaijan SSR; az, Азәрбајҹан Совет Сосиалист Республикасы, Azərbaycan Sovet Sosialist R ...
Flag of Byelorussian SSR.svg, Byelorussian SSR
The Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic (BSSR, or Byelorussian SSR; be, Беларуская Савецкая Сацыялістычная Рэспубліка, Bielaruskaja Savieckaja Sacyjalistyčnaja Respublika; russian: Белор ...
Flag of Estonian SSR.svg, Estonian SSR
The Estonian SSR,, russian: Эстонская ССР officially the Estonian Soviet Socialist Republic,, russian: Эстонская Советская Социалистическая Республика was an ethnically based adminis ...
Flag of Georgian SSR.svg, Georgian SSR
Flag of Kazakh SSR.svg, Kazakh SSR
Flag of Kyrgyz SSR.svg, Kyrgyz SSR
Flag of Latvian SSR.svg, 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 ...
Flag of Lithuanian SSR.svg, Lithuanian SSR
Flag of Moldavian SSR.svg, Moldavian SSR
Flag of Tajik SSR.svg, Tajik SSR
Flag of the Turkmen Soviet Socialist Republic (1973–1991).svg, Turkmen SSR
Flag of Ukrainian SSR.svg, Ukrainian SSR
Flag of the Uzbek SSR.svg, Uzbek SSR
Flag of the Karelo-Finnish SSR.svg, Karelo-Finnish SSR
The Karelo-Finnish Soviet Socialist Republic (Karelo-Finnish SSR; fi, ; rus, Каре́ло-Фи́нская Сове́тская Социалисти́ческая Респу́блика, r=Karelo-Finskaya Sovetskaya Sotsialisticheskaya Resp ...
Gallery
File:Construction sheet of the flag of the Soviet Union.png, Official construction sheet for the State Flag of the USSR
(1955–1991)
File:Raising a flag over the Reichstag 2.jpg, The iconic photograph Raising a Flag over the Reichstag
File:Russian Power (6079327205).jpg, The Soviet flag along with an assortment of Russian and Soviet military flags
File:Soviet Flag Flying on Cupola - Museum of the Great Patriotic War - Minsk - Belarus (27426504532).jpg, The State Flag of the USSR flown atop the Belarusian Great Patriotic War Museum
File:Milovice may 1984 2.jpg, The State Flag of the USSR (pictured in the foreground) leading the parade with flags of all 15 Soviet republics following from behind during a Victory Day parade in 1984
File:Checkpoint Charlie - Flagge.jpg, One of the last Soviet flags flown on the Kremlin
The Kremlin ( rus, Московский Кремль, r=Moskovskiy Kreml', p=ˈmɐˈskofskʲɪj krʲemlʲ, t=Moscow Kremlin) is a fortified complex in the center of Moscow founded by the Rurik dynasty, Rurik dynasty. It is the best known of th ...
, displayed at the Checkpoint Charlie Museum in Berlin
See also
*
Communist symbolism
*
Flag of Russia
*
Flags of the Soviet Republics
*
Flags whose reverse differs from the obverse
This article contains a list of flags for which the reverse (back ) is different from the obverse (front ).
It includes current as well as historic flags of both nations and national subdivisions such as provinces, states, territories, cities and ...
*
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 ...
*
Red flag Red flag may refer to:
* Red flag (idiom), a metaphor for something signalling a problem
** Red flag warning, a term used by meteorologists
** Red flag (battle ensign), maritime flag signaling an intention to give battle with no quarter (fight to ...
*
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 ...
*
State Emblem of the Soviet Union
The State Emblem of the Soviet Union; be, Дзяржаўны герб СССР; kk, ССРО мемлекеттік елтаңбасы; lt, TSRS Valstybinis herbas; lv, PSRS valsts ģerbonis; et, NSVL riigivapp} was adopted in 1923 and was ...
Notes
References
External links
*
*
{{Asia topic, Flag of, title=
Flags of Asia
Flags of the Soviet Union
National symbols of the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
1923 establishments in the Soviet Union
Soviet Union