image byAntónio Martins, 01 Nov 2002The Soviet national flag, as most soviet flags, used a medium, brightshade of red. Soviet flag laws clearly distinguish between this shade ofred, or scarlet (alyĭ | алый
),and a darker shade (krapovyĭ |краповый orpurpurnyĭ |пурпурный
) used onlyon a few flags.
António Martins, 28 Jan 2001
Thehammer and sickle itself, originate from theunique Russian unity ofthe peasants (the sickle) with the workers (the hammer) who together formedthe Soviet Russian state. The Red field is symbolism of the blood that hasbeen spilt by workers the world over in the fight for their emancipation, andwas directly inherited from thered banner flownat the Paris Commune; the original and hitherto “base” symbolof a worker’s government flag.The single yellow star is both the representation of the life and immenseenergy of the sun, empty because within is the blood or production of workersstruggle; and also the five points of the star symbolize the single unity andinternational representation of the government — each of the fivepoints is representative of the five (up to then known/recognized)continents.
Brian Basgen (Marxists Internet Archive Director), 07 July 2000
Soviet flag with hammer, sickle and star wasnot created in 1918!It was adopted in 1923. The star on the flag was red with yellow border (notplain red). Only the coat of arms and some military colours were with hammerand sickle in 1918. Hammer and sickle existed in soviet symbolism since1917.
Victor Lomantsov, 08 July 2000 and 09 July 2000
Traditionally, red has always had very positive connotations inRussian language and culture. The word "red"("красный") isetymologically related with the words"прекрасный"("very good", "the best") and"красивий"("beautiful"). A Russian proverb says that«красивий— самыкрасный»(«the more red, the better»).
ThusMoscow’s Red Square has a doublemeaning, referring not just to its colour but also meaning "BeautifulSquare". Furthermore, the most important Russian Orthodox festivity isthe so-called Red Easter, when the priests wear red vestments.
All this can help to understand why the red flag became the mostpopular symbol from thefirst moments of the 1917revolution, being widely used even by non-Communist elements. Peopleoften ripped the white and blue stripes from thetri-colour Russian flags to make verynarrow, unraveled red flags that were shown everywhere.
José Manuel Erbez, 12 June 2001
 image byAntónio Martins, 08 December 2005 |   |
No hammer, sickle and star on thereverse side.
Mark Sensen, 25 May 1997
Officially reverse looked like obverse without star and hammer-sickle.But in fact I never saw these flags without star, hammer-sickle. Real flagsusually were either with reverse analogous to obverse (but with star andhammer-and-sickle near the hoist) or with reverse = mirrored obverse.
Victor Lomantsov, 30 November 2002
imagebyAl Kirsch andAntónio Martins, 08 November 2001In USSRvertical flag hanging of flagswas very rare. I never saw it. But I saw a photo of 1980s withvertical flag of USSR, with anupright hammer and sickle on theupper “hoist” (dexter). I think this photo was from theOlympic Games of 1980.
Victor Lomantsov, 20 November 2000
This is aspecial flag for vertical display.
Al Kirsch, 08 November 2001
imagebyAntónio Martins, 20 December 2005If [a regular] flag was simply rotated 90 degrees clockwise, the hammerand sickle moved to the upper right and faced “down”. If theflag was “flipped” as theUS flagis, the hammer and sickle faced “down” and wasreversed.
Al Kirsch, 08 November 2001
According to my understanding, the hammer and sickle appeared only on theobverse of the Soviet flag and thereverse was plainred. If so, then flipping [a regular] flag over like theUS flag would give you only a verticallyhoisted plain red cloth.
Joe McMillan, 08 November 2001
imagebyAntónio Martins, 20 December 2005I founda photo of a verticalhoisted Soviet flag in the background.
Greg Shevchenko, 18 October 2003
It seems to be a Soviet national flag flipped and rotated (followingtheUS practice for hanging flags), showingthe reverse and on it the hammer-and-sickle emblem, which, according tothe relevant legislation,should not be there(only on the obverse). It would be interesting to know the location of thisevent and, if possible, the provenience of the flag.
António Martins, 11 November 2003
image byZach Harden, 09 September 2001, andAntónio Martins, 15 November 2002This finial was used in the Soviet Union.Belarusis currently using this finial as their own.
Zach Harden, 09 September 2001
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image byAntónio Martins, 23 July 2004The state emblem of the Soviet Union (corresponding to acoat of arms) had the Earth superimposedby the hammer and sickle.
Elias Granqvist, 25 November 2000
Two bundles of corn ears heavily draped with a scroll, reading in allthe15 SSR languages the motto «workers of theworld, unite thee»; the bundles encircle an earth globe (viewed approx.from the vertical of the Black Sea) showing solid continents and coordinatelines in 20° intervals. On it a hammer and a sickle, crossed persaltire, in naturalistic look. Under the globe a rising sun with alternatinglong and short rays made of single lines (approx. 30 visible rays); abovethe globe a double fimbriated dense star.
António Martins, 05 Aug 1999
The 1956-1991 version, with the motto "Workers of all countries,unite!" in all 15 officialSSRlanguages (here showing the original hyphenationand withtransliterations for Cyrillic, Armenianand Georgian); from dexter top, anti-clockwise:
