Soviet Union Flag

The flag of the former USSR may perhaps be one of the most well-known and infamous flags in the entire world. The design consists of the traditional hammer and sickle emblazoned upon a background of red.  The first design for the Soviet Union flag was created adopted on November 12, 1923. There have been two slight modifications to the flag since that time, and the most recent flag of the Soviet Union flew from 1980 until the collapse of the Soviet Union a few years later.The colors of the Soviet Union flag have a very particular symbolism and meaning. The background of the flag is a bright red color – representative of the blood that has been shed by workers and farmers. The color red is also very indicative of Communism, which was the central ideology of the former Soviet Union government. The USSR flag contains an image of a yellow hammer and sickle placed in the top left hand corner of the flag. The image of the hammer and sickle is perhaps the most well known symbol of communism anywhere in the world. The hammer in the image is meant to symbolize the nation’s workforce (termed “Proletariats” by Karl Marx), and the sickle is representative of the nation’s agricultural industry, one of the most important industries in the entire Soviet Union. One final image appears above the hammer and sickle on the flag, and that is of a red star – an image indicative of the Communist rule.

The Soviet Union was the first country in the world to ever form any sort of communist government, thus the Soviet system became the basis for many other countries’ political ideologies. There have been many other world flags based upon the flag of the Soviet Union including the flags of the People’s Republic of China, North Vietnam, Yugoslavia, and Angola.