Hammer and sickle
- For other uses, see Hammer and sickle (disambiguation).
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 peasantry and the industrial proletariat; placing them together symbolises the unity between agricultural and industrial 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.
In Unicode, the "hammer and sickle" symbol is U+262D (☭).
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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 more well 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 Red Army and Red Guard on uniforms, medals, caps etc.
The hammer and sickle (Russian: серп и молот, serp i molot, "sickle and hammer") 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).
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
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.
- The hammer and sickle, imposed onto a pair of stylised wings, was used by the Soviet national carrier, Aeroflot. Aeroflot of Russia continues to use the symbol.
- Serp i Molot 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.
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.
- Unusual among administrative units of post-1990 Russia, the Bryansk Oblast flag includes the hammer and sickle.
The National-Bolshevik Party of Russia uses a flag based on that of Nazi Germany but with the Swastika replaced by the Hammer and sickle.
Other similar symbols
A number of symbols show some stylistical similarity to the hammer and sickle without necessarily featuring an actual hammer or a sickle. For example, such symbols appear on the flag of Angola, Communist Party of the USA, and on some renditions of Britain's Transport and General Workers Union logo.
Further variations on the theme of crossed tools include the symbol of the Korean Workers' Party (hammer, writing brush and hoe), the old symbol of the British Labour Party (spade, torch and hoe), the crossed monkey wrench and tomohawk of the Earth First! movement, the pickaxe and rifle symbol of communist Albania, and the hammer and compasses of the emblem of the German Democratic Republic.
The Far Eastern Republic used an Anchor crossed over a Spade or Pick axe, symbolising the union of fishermen and miners.
The Communist Party of Guadeloupe uses a letter "G" in the style of a hammer and sickle on its flag [1].
The Communist Party of Britain uses the Hammer and Dove symbol. 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.
The Austrian coat of arms depicts an eagle holding an (uncrossed) hammer and sickle in each claw. Though unrelated to communism, the design was meant to represent the two main classes in Austrian society at the time of its conception, the workers and peasants.
The Fourth International, founded by Trotsky, uses a Hammer and Sickle symbol on which the number "4" is superimposed.
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's Korean Workers' Party (which uses the hammer, pen and sickle)
- Old symbol of the British Labour Party (spade, torch and hoe).
- Serp i Molot Plant website (in Russian)
Categories
Symbols | Soviet phraseology | Communism | Soviet Union | Hammer & sickle