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The
hammer and sickle is a part of
communist symbolism and its usage indicates an association with Communism,
Communist Party, or Communist state. It features a
hammer superimposed on a sickle, or vice versa. The two tools are symbols of the industrial
proletariat and the peasantry; placing them together symbolises the unity between industrial and agricultural workers.
It is best known from having been incorporated into the red flag of the
Soviet Union, along with the
Red star. It has also been used in other flags and emblems.
Soviet and Russian usage
The hammer and sickle was originally a hammer crossed over a plough, with the same meaning (unity of peasants and workers) as the better known hammer and sickle. The hammer and sickle, though in use since 1917/18, was not the official symbol until 1922, before which the original hammer and plough insignia was used by the Red Army and the Red Guard on uniforms, medals, caps, etc.
Later, the symbol 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, with the golden text of the name of the respective republic superimposed on it, as stipulated in Article 90 of the
1918 Soviet Constitution.
- 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.
- Serp i Molot (Russian language for 'sickle and hammer' (in fact, it is the actual Russian name of this symbol) is the name of the Moscow Metallurgical Plant.
- Serp i Molot is also the name of a stop on the electric railway line from Kurski railway station in Moscow to Gorki, featured in Venedikt Erofeev's novel, Moscow-Petushki.
Some anthropologists have argued that the symbol, like others used in the Soviet Union, was actually a Russian Orthodox symbol that was used by the Communist Party to fill the religious needs that Communism was replacing as a new state "religion." The symbol can be seen as a permutation of the Russian Orthodox two-barred cross.1
Current usage
Two federal subjects of the post-Soviet Russian Federation use the hammer and sickle in its symbols: The Vladimir Oblast has them on its flag and the
Bryansk Oblast has them on its coat of arms, which is also the central element of its flag.
The former Soviet (now Russian) national airline, Aeroflot, continues to use the hammer and sickle in its symbol.
The separatist government of
Transnistria uses (with minor modifications) the flag and the emblem of the former
Moldavian SSR, which include the hammer and sickle. The flag can also be used without the hammer and sickle in some circumstances, for example on Transnistrian-issued license plates.
Variations of the symbol
Many symbols having similar structures and messages to the original have been designed. For example, the
flag of Angola shows a segment of gear, crossed by a
machete, and crowned with a red star. In the logo of the
Communist Party USA, a circle is formed by a half cog and semicircle sickle-blade. A hammer is laid directly over the sickle's handle with the hammer's
Hammer#Designs_and_variations is at the logo's center.
Tools represented in other designs include: the
Ink brush,
sickle, and hammer of the Workers' Party of Korea; the
spade, torch, and hoe Labour_Party_(UK)#The_split_under_MacDonald by the British Labour Party (UK); the
monkey wrench and
tomahawk (axe) of the
Earth First! movement; the pickaxe and rifle used in
Albania#People.27s_Republic; and the hammer and
Compass (drafting) of the emblem of the
East Germany flag. The
Far Eastern Republic of Russia used an anchor crossed over a spade or pickaxe, symbolising the union of fishermen and miners. The
Fourth International, founded by
Trotsky, uses a hammer and sickle symbol on which the number '4' is superimposed.
The Communist Party of Britain uses the hammer and Peace_symbol#Dove_and_olive_branch. Designed in 1988 by Mikhal Boncza, it is intended to highlight the party's connection to the peace movement. It is usually used in conjunction with the hammer and sickle, and appears on all of the CPB's publications. Some members of the CPB prefer one symbol over the other, although the party's 1994 congress reaffirmed the hammer and dove's position as the official emblem of the Party. Similarly, the Communist Party of Israel uses a dove over the hammer and sickle as its symbol. The flag of the
Guadeloupe Communist Party uses a sickle, turned to look like a
capital letters, to represent
Guadeloupe.
With differing intent, the eagle on Coat of Arms of Austria holds a Or (heraldry) hammer in its left, and a golden sickle in its right
claw. The tools were not meant to be references to communism (the eagle also wears a golden
crown (headgear)―an affront to
communisim.) The three golden objects, rather, were meant to represent the industry and
agriculture laborers, united with the former
aristocracy, in one
republic democracy.
Unicode
In Unicode, the "hammer and sickle" symbol is U+262D. ()☭
Legal status
In territories occupied by the
Soviet Union, the
Hammer and sickle and the
Red Star are considered
occupation symbols, comparable to the Nazi swastika or the
SS insignia. Accordingly, the Republic of Hungary has banned the symbols' public usage. A similar law was considered in
Republic of Estonia, but eventually failed in a parliamentary committee as too onerous for constitutionally guaranteed freedoms, most importantly,
freedom of speech.
Gallery
Image:Flag of the Soviet Union.svg|Flag of
USSR from 15 August,
1980 -
25 December,
1991Image:Flag_of_the_Soviet_Union_1923.svg], 1923 - August 19 1955Image:Flag of the Chinese Communist Party.svg] flagImage:Flag of Bryansk Oblast.png|Flag of Bryansk OblastImage:Aeroflot logo.PNG|The hammer and sickle on the
Aeroflot logo.Image:Flag of Angola.svg] as of 1975.Image:Coat of arms of East Germany.svg|The
coat of arms of the German Democratic RepublicImage:Flag of the Workers' Party of Korea.svg|Flag of the Workers' Party of KoreaImage:Albanian_50_lek_banknote_1976.jpg].Image:Hammer_and_dove.png|Hammer and dove symbol of the Communist Party of BritainImage:National-Bolshevik-Party.png|Flag of the National Bolsheviks.
See also
Sources
1 David Lempert, Daily Life in a Crumbling Empire: The Absorption of Russia into the World Economy, Columbia University Press/ Eastern European Monographs, 1996.
External links
- Flag of North Korea Korean Workers' Party (which uses the hammer, pen and hoe)
- Old symbol of the British Labour Party (UK) (spade, torch and hoe).
The
hammer and sickle is a part of communist symbolism and its usage indicates an association with
Communism, Communist Party, or
Communist state. It features a
hammer superimposed on a
sickle, or vice versa. The two tools are symbols of the industrial proletariat and the
peasantry; placing them together symbolises the unity between industrial and agricultural workers.
It is best known from having been incorporated into the red flag of the Soviet Union, along with the Red star. It has also been used in other flags and emblems.
Soviet and Russian usage
The hammer and sickle was originally a hammer crossed over a plough, with the same meaning (unity of peasants and workers) as the better known hammer and sickle. The hammer and sickle, though in use since 1917/18, was not the official symbol until 1922, before which the original hammer and plough insignia was used by the Red Army and the Red Guard on uniforms, medals, caps, etc.
Later, the symbol 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, with the golden text of the name of the respective republic superimposed on it, as stipulated in Article 90 of the 1918 Soviet Constitution.
- 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.
- Serp i Molot (Russian language for 'sickle and hammer' (in fact, it is the actual Russian name of this symbol) is the name of the Moscow Metallurgical Plant.
- Serp i Molot is also the name of a stop on the electric railway line from Kurski railway station in Moscow to Gorki, featured in Venedikt Erofeev's novel, Moscow-Petushki.
Some anthropologists have argued that the symbol, like others used in the Soviet Union, was actually a Russian Orthodox symbol that was used by the Communist Party to fill the religious needs that Communism was replacing as a new state "religion." The symbol can be seen as a permutation of the Russian Orthodox two-barred cross.1
Current usage
Two federal subjects of the post-Soviet Russian Federation use the hammer and sickle in its symbols: The Vladimir Oblast has them on its flag and the Bryansk Oblast has them on its coat of arms, which is also the central element of its flag.
The former Soviet (now Russian) national airline,
Aeroflot, continues to use the hammer and sickle in its symbol.
The separatist government of
Transnistria uses (with minor modifications) the flag and the emblem of the former Moldavian SSR, which include the hammer and sickle. The flag can also be used without the hammer and sickle in some circumstances, for example on Transnistrian-issued license plates.
Variations of the symbol
Many symbols having similar structures and messages to the original have been designed. For example, the
flag of Angola shows a segment of gear, crossed by a machete, and crowned with a red star. In the logo of the
Communist Party USA, a circle is formed by a half cog and semicircle sickle-blade. A hammer is laid directly over the sickle's handle with the hammer's
Hammer#Designs_and_variations is at the logo's center.
Tools represented in other designs include: the Ink brush,
sickle, and hammer of the Workers' Party of Korea; the spade,
torch, and hoe Labour_Party_(UK)#The_split_under_MacDonald by the British
Labour Party (UK); the
monkey wrench and
tomahawk (axe) of the
Earth First! movement; the pickaxe and
rifle used in
Albania#People.27s_Republic; and the hammer and
Compass (drafting) of the emblem of the East Germany flag. The Far Eastern Republic of Russia used an
anchor crossed over a spade or pickaxe, symbolising the union of fishermen and miners. The Fourth International, founded by
Trotsky, uses a hammer and sickle symbol on which the number '4' is superimposed.
The Communist Party of Britain uses the hammer and
Peace_symbol#Dove_and_olive_branch. Designed in 1988 by Mikhal Boncza, it is intended to highlight the party's connection to the peace movement. It is usually used in conjunction with the hammer and sickle, and appears on all of the CPB's publications. Some members of the CPB prefer one symbol over the other, although the party's 1994 congress reaffirmed the hammer and dove's position as the official emblem of the Party. Similarly, the Communist Party of Israel uses a dove over the hammer and sickle as its symbol. The flag of the
Guadeloupe Communist Party uses a sickle, turned to look like a capital letters, to represent
Guadeloupe.
With differing intent, the eagle on Coat of Arms of Austria holds a Or (heraldry) hammer in its left, and a golden sickle in its right claw. The tools were not meant to be references to communism (the eagle also wears a golden crown (headgear)―an affront to
communisim.) The three golden objects, rather, were meant to represent the
industry and agriculture laborers, united with the former aristocracy, in one republic democracy.
Unicode
In
Unicode, the "hammer and sickle" symbol is U+262D. ()☭
Legal status
In territories occupied by the Soviet Union, the
Hammer and sickle and the Red Star are considered occupation symbols, comparable to the Nazi
swastika or the
SS insignia. Accordingly, the
Republic of Hungary has banned the symbols' public usage. A similar law was considered in
Republic of Estonia, but eventually failed in a parliamentary committee as too onerous for constitutionally guaranteed freedoms, most importantly,
freedom of speech.
Gallery
Image:Flag of the Soviet Union.svg|Flag of USSR from 15 August,
1980 - 25 December, 1991Image:Flag_of_the_Soviet_Union_1923.svg], 1923 - August 19 1955Image:Flag of the Chinese Communist Party.svg] flagImage:Flag of Bryansk Oblast.png|Flag of Bryansk OblastImage:Aeroflot logo.PNG|The hammer and sickle on the Aeroflot logo.Image:Flag of Angola.svg] as of 1975.Image:Coat of arms of East Germany.svg|The coat of arms of the German Democratic RepublicImage:Flag of the Workers' Party of Korea.svg|Flag of the Workers' Party of KoreaImage:Albanian_50_lek_banknote_1976.jpg].Image:Hammer_and_dove.png|Hammer and dove symbol of the Communist Party of BritainImage:National-Bolshevik-Party.png|Flag of the National Bolsheviks.
See also
Sources
1
David Lempert, Daily Life in a Crumbling Empire: The Absorption of Russia into the World Economy, Columbia University Press/ Eastern European Monographs, 1996.
External links
- Flag of North Korea Korean Workers' Party (which uses the hammer, pen and hoe)
- Old symbol of the British Labour Party (UK) (spade, torch and hoe).
