Flag of the Soviet Union

{{Infobox flag

| Name = State Flag of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics
{{smaller|{{lang|ru|Государственный флаг Союза Советских Социалистических Республик}}}}

| Image = Flag of the Soviet Union.svg

| Nickname = {{lang|ru|Красное Знамя}} ({{lit|Red Banner}}){{cite encyclopedia| author= Whitney Smith |encyclopedia= Encyclopædia Britannica|title= Flag of Flag of Union of Soviet Socialist Republics |url= https://www.britannica.com/topic/flag-of-Union-of-Soviet-Socialist-Republics|year= 2008|access-date=5 November 2008}}

| Morenicks =

| Use = 010110

| Symbol = {{FIAV|010110}}{{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/flagsarmsacrossw0000smit/page/203|title=Flags and arms across the world|last=Whitney.|first=Smith|date=1980|publisher=McGraw-Hill|others=Smith, Whitney.|isbn=9780070590946|location=New York|pages=[https://archive.org/details/flagsarmsacrossw0000smit/page/203 203]|oclc=4957064|url-access=registration}}{{FIAV|historical}}

| Proportion = 1:2

| Adoption = December 1922 (original)
19 August 1955 (last version)

| Relinquished = 26 December 1991

| Design = Plain red banner, with the canton consisting of a gold hammer and sickle topped off by a red five-point star bordered in gold

| Designer =

}}

The State Flag of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, also simply known as the Soviet flag or the Red Banner, was a red flag with two communist symbols displayed in the canton: a gold hammer and sickle topped off by a red five-point star bordered in gold. The flag's design and symbolism are derived from several sources, but emerged during the Russian Revolution. It has also come to serve as the standard symbol representing communism as a whole, recognized as such in international circles, even after the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991.

The plain red flag, which was a traditional revolutionary symbol long before 1917, was incorporated into the Soviet flag to pay tribute to the international aspect of the workers' revolution. On the other hand, the unique hammer-and-sickle design was a modern industrial touch adopted from the Russian Revolution; it represented the "victorious and enduring revolutionary alliance" by unifying the hammer (i.e. workers) and the sickle (i.e. peasants). The gold-bordered five-point star situated above the hammer and sickle was a representation of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.

The first flag was adopted in December 1922. In 1923, 1924, 1936, and in 1955, statutes were adopted that resulted in adjustments to the hammer's handle length and the sickle's shape. In 1980, an amendment was made to the 1955 decree that removed the hammer and sickle displayed on the flag's reverse side, though the legal description remained completely unchanged.{{Cite web|url=https://geraldika.ru/s/5341|title=Положение о Государственном флаге Союза Советских Социалистических Республик | Геральдика.ру|website=geraldika.ru|language=RU|accessdate=8 May 2022}} The design of the 1955 Soviet flag served as the basis for all of the flags of the Union Republics.

Symbolism and design

The flag of the Soviet Union consisted of a plain red flag with a gold hammer crossed with a gold sickle placed beneath a gold-bordered red star. This symbol is in the upper left canton of the red flag.

The colour red honours the red flag of the Paris Commune of 1871; the red star and the hammer and sickle are symbols of communism and socialism.

The hammer symbolises urban industrial workers while the sickle symbolises agricultural workers (peasants), who form the state together with the proletarian class. The red star represents the Communist Party, and its position over the hammer and sickle symbolises its leading role in socialist society to unify and enlighten the workers and peasants in the building of a communist society.

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:{{cite web|url=http://pravo.levonevsky.org/baza/soviet/sssr6212.htm|script-title=ru:Положение о государственном флаге СССР|author=USSR Supreme Soviet Presidium|language=ru|date=19 August 1955|access-date=2008-11-05|author-link=Presidium of the Supreme Soviet}}

The ratio of width to length of the flag is 1:2.
The hammer and sickle are in a square with sides equal to {{frac|4}} 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 {{frac|3|4}} of the square diagonal.
The five-pointed star is inscribed into a circle with a diameter of {{frac|8}} 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 {{frac|3}} of the flag's height. The distance from the upper side of the flag to the center of the star is {{frac|8}} of the flag's height.

{{stack|

File:Construction sheet of the flag of the Soviet Union.png

File:Flag of the Soviet Union (reverse).svg

}}

{{stack|

File:Flag of the Soviet Union (vertical).svg

}}

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.{{cite web|url=https://flagspot.net/flags/su'.html|title=Construction details of Soviet flags|website=flagspot.net|access-date=2017-11-18}} It was also common to see the reverse of the flag bear the hammer and sickle in the obverse formation.{{cite web|url=https://flagspot.net/flags/su.html#rev|title=Reverse of the flag - Soviet Union|website=flagspot.net|access-date=2017-11-18}} 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 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. Although common in official practice, a typical flag owner would simply turn a standard design flag 90 degrees to the right and hang it by the hoist (not flipped like in the US flag).{{cite web |url=https://flagspot.net/flags/su.html#ver |title=Vertical hoisting – Soviet Union |website=flagspot.net |access-date=2017-12-05}}

History

During the establishment of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, Vladimir Lenin and his followers 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."{{Cite book|title=Flags of the states of the world|author=Konstantin AndreevichIvanov|language=ru| location=Moscow|publisher=Izd-vo Transport|year=1971| page={{Page needed|date=September 2010}}|oclc=20146023}}

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, 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 field with the state's coat of arms." It was ordered with the unusual ratio of 4:1 in proportion and consisted of a red flag 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 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.{{cite web|url=http://www.vexillographia.ru/russia/ussr.htm|title=Флаги СССР|website=vexillographia.ru|author=Russian Centre of Vexillology and Heraldry|access-date=11 January 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140221223059/http://www.vexillographia.ru/russia/ussr.htm|archive-date=21 February 2014|url-status=dead}} 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, although the earlier (pre-Stalinist) flags are occasionally used by Trotskyists and those on the modern communist left.

The Soviet flag is also actively promoted in Russia as a symbol of nostalgia for the Soviet Union. Various politicians frequently utilize it as a symbol of the superpower status Russia lost in 1991.{{Cite news|last=Hoffman|first=David|date=2000-12-05|title=Putin Seeks Restoration Of Soviet Symbols|language=en-US|newspaper=The Washington Post|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/2000/12/05/putin-seeks-restoration-of-soviet-symbols/0f5e2e73-414e-4cd5-8565-465e518081ec/|access-date=2021-08-22|issn=0190-8286}}

Amidst the backdrop of the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Communist Party of the Russian Federation proposed to the State Duma the adoption of the Soviet flag as the official flag of Russia on 19 April 2022.{{Cite web |title=КПРФ внесла в Госдуму законопроект, предлагающий установить флаг СССР флагом России |url=https://kprf.ru/dep/gosduma/activities/210029.html |access-date=2022-04-19 |website=kprf.ru |language=ru}} The use of Soviet symbols including its flag became very extensive by invading Russian forces over the course of the war along with the letter "Z".{{cite news |last1=Young |first1=Pareisa |title=Ukraine: Russian troops flying Soviet flag, symbol of 're-establishing Russian domination' |url=https://observers.france24.com/en/europe/20220311-ukraine-ussr-soviet-flag-russia-troops |access-date=4 May 2022 |work=The Observers - France 24 |date=11 March 2022 |archive-date=27 April 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220427075026/https://observers.france24.com/en/europe/20220311-ukraine-ussr-soviet-flag-russia-troops |url-status=live }}

On 17 June 2023, during the celebration for the 300th anniversary of Saint Petersburg, the respective flags of the Russian Empire ({{ill|Black-yellow-white flag|ru|Чёрно-жёлто-белый флаг}}), Soviet Union, and Russian Federation were raised simultaneously at the Gulf of Finland.{{Cite web|url=https://rg.ru/2023/06/17/reg-szfo/v-peterburge-na-vysotu-179-metrov-torzhestvenno-podniali-flagi-treh-istoricheskih-epoh.html|title=В Петербурге на высоту 179 метров торжественно подняли флаги трёх исторических эпох|language=ru|website=Rossiyskaya Gazeta|date=2023-06-17|access-date=2023-06-20}}{{Cite web|url=https://rg.ru/2023/06/17/reg-szfo/putin-prinial-uchastie-v-ceremonii-podniatiia-flagov-rf-sssr-i-rossijskoj-imperii-v-peterburge.html|title=Путин принял участие в церемонии поднятия флагов РФ, СССР и Российской империи в Петербурге|language=ru|website=Rossiyskaya Gazeta|date=2023-06-17|access-date=2023-06-20}}{{Cite web|url=https://tass.ru/obschestvo/18047849|title=Путин с катера наблюдал за поднятием в Петербурге флагов РФ, СССР и Российской империи|language=ru|website=TASS|access-date=2023-06-20}}{{Cite web|lang=ru|url=https://www.mk.ru/politics/2023/06/17/v-sanktpeterburge-torzhestvenno-podnyali-flagi-trekh-istoricheskikh-epokh.html|title=В Санкт-Петербурге торжественно подняли флаги трёх исторических эпох|website=Moskovskij Komsomolets|date=2023-06-17|access-date=2023-06-20}}

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)

Derived flags

The flags of the Soviet republics that constituted the USSR and the Victory Banner were all defaced{{NoteTag|In vexillology, defacement is the addition of a symbol or charge to a flag.}} or modified versions of the Soviet flag.

File:Flag of Russian SFSR.svg|Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (1954–91)

File:Flag of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic (1937–1949).svg|Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic (1937–50)

File:Flag of Ukrainian SSR.svg|Ukrainian SSR
(1950–90)

File:Flag of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic (1949–1991, reverse).svg|Flag of the Ukrainian SSR (1990)

File:Flag of the Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic (1937–1951).svg|Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic (1937–51)

File:Flag of Byelorussian SSR.svg|Byelorussian SSR (1951–91) (served as an inspiration for the flag of Belarus since 1995)

File:Flag of the Uzbek SSR.svg|Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic (1952–91)

File:Flag of the Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic (1937-1940).svg|Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic (1937–40)

File:Flag of the Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic (1940-1953).svg|Kazakh SSR (1940–53)

File:Flag of Kazakh SSR.svg|Kazakh SSR and Kazakhstan (1953–92)

File:Flag of Georgian SSR.svg|Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic (1951–90)

File:Flag of the Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic (1924-1927).svg|Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic (1924–27)

File:Flag of the Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic (1927-1931).svg|Azerbaijan SSR
(1927–31)

File:Flag of the Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic (1931-1937).svg|Azerbaijan SSR
(1931–37)

File:Flag of the Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic (1937-1940).svg|Azerbaijan SSR
(1937–40)

File:Flag of the Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic (1940-1952).svg|Azerbaijan SSR
(1940–52)

File:Flag of the Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic (1952–1956).svg|Azerbaijan SSR
(1952–56)

File:Flag of Azerbaijan SSR.svg|Azerbaijan SSR
(1956–91)

File:Flag of the Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic (1940–1953).svg|Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic (1940–53)

File:Flag of Lithuanian SSR.svg|Lithuanian SSR
(1953–88)

File:Flag of the Moldavian ASSR (1925-1932).svg|Moldavian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic (1925–32)

File:Flag of the Moldavian ASSR (1937-1938).svg|Moldavian ASSR
(1937–38)

File:Flag of the Moldavian ASSR.svg|Moldavian ASSR
(1938–40)

File:Flag of the Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic (1941-1952).svg|Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic
(1940–52)

File:Flag of the Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic (1952–1990).svg|Moldavian SSR (1952–1990)

File:Flag of Transnistria (state).svg|Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic{{NoteTag|The Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic or Transnistria, is an unrecognized breakaway republic formed in 1991 after the breakup of the Soviet Union from territory internationally recognized as part of Moldova after the Transnistria War.}} (1991–present)

File:Flag of the Latvian Soviet Socialist Republic (1940–1953).svg|Latvian Soviet Socialist Republic (1940–53)

File:Flag of the Latvian Soviet Socialist Republic (1953–1967, variant).svg|Latvian SSR (1953–67)

File:Flag of Latvian SSR.svg|Latvian SSR (1967–90)

File:Flag of Kyrgyz SSR.svg|Kirghiz Soviet Socialist Republic and Kyrgyzstan (1952–92)

File:Flag of the Tajik Soviet Socialist Republic (1936–1938).svg|Tajik Soviet Socialist Republic (1936–38)

File:Flag of the Tajik Soviet Socialist Republic (1938–1940).svg|Tajik SSR (1938–40)

File:Flag of the Tajik Soviet Socialist Republic (1940–1953).svg|Tajik SSR (1940–53)

File:Flag of Tajik SSR.svg|Tajik SSR (1953–91)

File:Flag of the Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic (1936–1940).png|Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic (1936–40)

File:Flag of The Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic (1940-1952).png|Armenian SSR
(1940–52)

File:Flag of Armenian SSR.svg|Armenian SSR
(1952–90)

File:Flag of the Turkmen Soviet Socialist Republic (1926-1937).svg|Turkmen Soviet Socialist Republic (1926–37)

File:Flag of the Turkmen Soviet Socialist Republic (1953–1973).svg|Turkmen SSR (1953–73)

File:Flag of the Turkmen Soviet Socialist Republic (1973–1991).svg|Turkmen SSR and Turkmenistan (1973–92)

File:Flag of the Estonian Soviet Socialist Republic (1940–1953).svg|Estonian Soviet Socialist Republic (1940–53)

File:Flag of Estonian SSR.svg|Estonian SSR (1953–90)

File:Flag of the Karelo-Finnish SSR (1940-1953).svg|Karelo-Finnish Soviet Socialist Republic{{NoteTag|The Karelo-Finnish SSR was a short-lived Union Republic formed in 1940 from the Karelian ASSR with territory ceded from Finland in the Winter War. In 1956, it was demoted back to an ASSR within the RSFSR.}} (1940–53)

File:Flag of the Karelo-Finnish SSR.svg|Karelo-Finnish SSR (1953–56)

File:Soviet Znamya Pobedy.svg|Victory Banner of the Great Patriotic War (1945)

File:Flag of Vladimir Oblast (1999).svg|Flag of Vladimir Oblast (1999–2017)

File:Flag of Vladimir Oblast.svg|Flag of Vladimir Oblast (2017–present)

Gallery

File:Raising a flag over the Reichstag - Restoration.jpg|Raising a Flag over the Reichstag

File:Flag of the Soviet Union (Raising a Flag over the Reichstag).svg|Digital remake of the flag that was raised over the Reichstag

File:Russian Power (6079327205).jpg|The Soviet flag along with an assortment of Russian and Soviet military flags

File:Group of the Moldavian Television (1982). (26333523307).jpg|Flags of the Soviet Republics flown during a parade in Chișinău, the capital of the Moldavian SSR

File:Germany-00336 - Last Kremlin Flag (30248015431).jpg|One of the last Soviet flags flown on the Kremlin, displayed at the Checkpoint Charlie Museum in Berlin

File:Generál s vlajkou v pozadí - panoramio.jpg|Member of the Armed Forces of Belarus pays tribute to the Victory Day in 2014, in front of a Soviet flag

File:Flag of the Soviet Union (1923, unofficial).svg|The unofficial flag of the USSR in 1923.