Hammer and sickle

The hammer and sickle is a symbol used to represent communism and communist political parties. It features a sickle superimposed on a hammer. The two tools are symbols of the industrial proletariat and the peasantry respectively; placing them together symbolises the unity between agricultural and industrial workers.

Soviet and Russian usage

Since 1917 the hammer and sickle (Russian: ???? ? ?????,, serp i molot) was one of the symbols of the RSFSR. Initially it was rendered on the Coat of Arms of the RSFSR, the union of workers and peasants having been declared the base of the state, and on the symbolics of the Red Army (created in 1918).

Related Topics:
1917 - Russian - RSFSR - Coat of Arms - Red Army - 1918

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Later it was featured on the flag of the Soviet Union, adopted in 1923 and finalized in the 1924 Soviet Constitution, and flags of the republics of the Soviet Union after 1924. Before this, the flags of Soviet republics tended to be a plain red field, defaced with the golden text of the name of the respective republic, as stipulated in Article 90 of the 1918 Soviet Constitution.

Related Topics:
Flag of the Soviet Union - 1923 - 1924 Soviet Constitution - Republics of the Soviet Union - 1918 Soviet Constitution

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• The Coat of Arms of the Soviet Union and the Coats of Arms of the Soviet Republics showed the hammer and sickle, which also appeared on the Red Star badge on the uniform cap of the Red Army uniform and in many other places.
• The hammer and sickle, imposed onto a pair of stylised wings, was used by the Soviet national carrier, Aeroflot. Aeroflot of the Russian Federation continues to use the symbol.
• Serp i Molot is the name of the Moscow Metallurgical Plant.
• Serp i Molot is the name of a stop of the Gorky direction electrical train line from the Kursk Train Station of Moscow (featured in Venedikt Erofeev's novel, Moscow-Petushki).

Those Communist Parties affiliated to the Comintern and the Cominform (that is those who looked to Moscow) and also those who looked to Beijing for guiding leadership tended to employ the use of the hammer and sickle or similar designs in their symbology. However, even Communist Parties opposed to both the Soviet Union and China have often used the hammer and sickle as their symbol (though sometimes they made small stylistic modifications to it). Thus, the hammer and sickle has become the international symbol of nearly all communists, regardless of orientation.

Related Topics:
Communist Parties - Comintern - Cominform

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