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Communist symbolism represents a variety of themes, includingrevolution, theproletariat, thepeasantry,agriculture, orinternational solidarity. Thered flag, thehammer and sickle, and thered star – or variations thereof – are some of the symbols adopted bycommunist movements,governments, andparties worldwide.
A tradition of including communist symbolism insocialist-style emblems and flags began with theflag of the Soviet Union and has since been taken up by a long line ofsocialist states.
InIndonesia,Latvia,Lithuania, andUkraine,communist symbols are banned and displays in public for non-educational use are considered a criminal offense.[1]
Thehammer and sickle appears on the flags of most communist parties around the world. Some parties have a modified version of the hammer and sickle as their symbol, most notably theWorkers' Party of Korea which includes a hammer representing industrial workers, a hoe representing agricultural workers, and a brush (traditional writing-implement) representing the intelligentsia.
The hammer stands for theindustrial working class and the sickle represents the agricultural workers, therefore together they represent the unity of the two groups.[2]
The hammer and sickle was first used during the1917 Russian Revolution; however, it did not appear on theofficial flag of theUnion of Soviet Socialist Republics until 1924.[2] Since the Russian Revolution, the hammer and sickle has been used by variouscommunist parties andcommunist states.
The red five-pointed star is a symbol of the ultimate triumph of the ideas ofcommunism on the five (inhabited, excluding Antarctica)continents of the globe. It first appeared as a military symbol inTsarist Russia. It was then called the “Mars star,” reminiscent ofMars, the ancient Roman god of war. On January 1, 1827, the law was signed that put a five-pointed star on the epaulets of officers and generals. In 1854, the star began to be used on shoulder straps. Later, the five-pointed star with a two-headed eagle inside it was used to mark military trains and carriages. In Soviet Russia, the five-pointed star symbolized the protection of peacetime labor by the Red Army (again, like in Ancient Rome, where Mars was also the protector of the agricultural workers). In 1918, the drawing of the badge for the soldiers of the Red Army in the form of a red star with a golden image of a plough and a hammer in the center was approved. The star symbolized protection, while the plough and the hammer were read as a union of peasants and workers. By the 1920s, the red star began to be used as an official symbol of the state; and finally, in 1924, it became part of the Soviet flag and the official emblem of the Soviet Union.[3][4]
In the succeeding years, the five-pointed red star came to be considered a symbol ofcommunism as well as of broadersocialism in general. It was widely used byanti-fascist resisting parties and undergroundsocialist organizations in Europe leading up to and duringWorld War II. Most states in theEastern Bloc incorporated the red star into state symbols to signify their socialist nature.
The red flag is often seen in combination with other communist symbols and party names. The flag is used at various communist and socialist rallies likeMay Day. The flag, being a symbol ofsocialism itself, is also commonly associated with non-communist variants of socialism.
The red flag has had multiple meanings in history. It is associated with courage, sacrifice, blood and war in general, but it was first used as a flag of defiance.[5] The red flag gained its modern association with communism in the1871 French Revolution.[citation needed] After theOctober Revolution, the Soviet government adopted the red flag with a superimposed hammer and sickle as its national flag. Since the October Revolution, various socialist states and movements have used the red flag.
The red-and-black flag has been a symbol of general communist movements, though generally used byanarcho-communists. The flag was used as the symbol of theanarcho-syndicalists during theSpanish Civil War. The black representsanarchism and the red representsleftist andsocialist ideals.[6] Over time, the flag spilled intostatist leftist movements, these movements include theSandinistas and the26th of July Movement, where the flags colors are not divided diagonally, but horizontally. As in the case of the Sandinistas, they adopted the flag due to the movement's anarchist roots.[7]
The Internationale is an anthem of theCommunist movement.[8] It is one of the most universally recognized songs in the world and has been translated into nearly every spoken language. Its originalFrench refrain isC'est la lutte finale/Groupons-nous et demain/L'Internationale/Sera le genre humain (English: This is the final struggle/Let's group together and tomorrow/The International/Will be the human race). It is often sung with araised fist salute.
The song has been used by communists all over the world since it was composed in the 19th century and adopted as the official anthem of theSecond International. It later became the anthem ofSoviet Russia in 1918 and of theSoviet Union in 1922. It was superseded as the Soviet Union anthem in 1944 with the adoption of theState Anthem of the Soviet Union, which placed more emphasis onpatriotism. The song was also sung in defiance to Communist governments, such as in theGerman Democratic Republic in 1989 prior toreunification as well as in thePeople's Republic of China during theTiananmen Square protests of the same year.[9][10]
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The original Starry Plough was designed by William H. Megahy, though the concept may have originated withGeorge William Russell, for theIrish Citizen Army[11] and showed silver stars on a green background.[12] The flag depicts anasterism (an identified part) of theconstellationUrsa Major, calledThe Plough (or "Starry Plough") inIreland andBritain, theBig Dipper in North America, and various other names worldwide. Two of the Plough's seven stars point toPolaris, the North Star.James Connolly, co-founder of the Irish Citizen Army withJack White andJames Larkin, said the significance of the banner was that a free Ireland would control its own destiny from theplough to the stars.[13] The sword as the plowshare is also a biblical reference inIsaiah 2:3–4. In thebible verse, God pushes his followers to turn their weapons into tools, turning the means for war into the means for peace. The marriage ofCatholic tradition, the biblical reference being integral to the flag's design, with socialist concepts, like the working class and the oppressor forcing them to take up their plowshares as arms, leaves the Starry Plough flag with complexity and nuanced implications, which culminate in a very wide range of interpretations.[14] During the 1930s the design changed to a blue banner which was designed by members of theRepublican Congress, and was adopted as the emblem of the Irish Labour movement, including theLabour Party. Labour adopted the rose as its official emblem in 1991 but continued to use the Starry Plough for ceremonial occasions, and in 2021 the party reverted to using the Starry Plough as their primary symbol (this time with white stars on a red background).
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In China, thePlough flag (Chinese:犁头旗), a red flag with white or yellow plough, was widely used in the period of theFirst Revolutionary Civil War as the flag of theChinese Peasants' Association, an organization led by theChinese Communist Party.[15][16] It is believed thatPeng Pai (Chinese:彭湃) was the first user in 1923 at the peasants' association ofHailufeng.[17] The Plough flag has many different versions and some are combined with the flag of Blue Sky, White Sun or Red Field;[18] other are different on the details of the plough.[19][20]
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Many communist governments purposely diverged from the traditional forms of European heraldry in order to distance themselves from themonarchies that they usually replaced, with actual coats of arms being seen as symbols of the monarchs. Instead, they followed the pattern of the national emblems adopted in the late 1910s and early 1920s in Soviet Russia and the Soviet Union.[citation needed]
While not necessarily communist in nature, the following graphic elements are often incorporated into the flags, seals and propaganda of communist countries and movements.
Notable examples of communist states that use no overtly communist imagery on their flags, emblems or other graphic representations areCuba and the formerPolish People's Republic.
Examples of these symbols in use.
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