History
After the Soviet invasion and occupation of Estonia in June 1940, the country was annexed to, and became an administrative subdivision of, the USSR under the name "Estonian Soviet Socialist Republic" in August 1940. After 31 October 1940, a Soviet flag with Latin script ENSV replacing the star above the hammer and sickle, was officially used by the Soviet authorities in the Estonian SSR. On 6 February 1953, a new version of the flag was adopted. It too followed the style of the flag of the Soviet Union, with six spiky blue and white wavy stripes added to the bottom.
During the period of foreign rule in 1940–1991, the Estonian diaspora and diplomatic service around the world continued to use the national flag of Estonia, whereas the use of the national tricolour and its blue, black and white colour combination was banned and punishable by law in the Soviet Union until 1988. [3]
On 20 October 1988, the usage of the blue-black-white flag was officially allowed again by Estonian authorities. On the evening of 23 February 1989 the Soviet flag was taken down permanently from the tower of Pikk Hermann of the Toompea Castle. It was replaced with the national blue-black-white flag on the next morning, 24 February, upon the 70th anniversary of the Estonian Declaration of Independence.
With the Act on symbols of Estonia, passed on 8 May 1990, a year before Estonia regained full independence in 1991, the use of the Estonian SSR flag and emblem as state symbols was officially discontinued. [4]
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 hammer and sickle is a communist symbol representing proletarian solidarity between agricultural and industrial workers. It was first adopted during the Russian Revolution at the end of World War I, the hammer representing workers and the sickle representing the peasants.
The flag of Kazakhstan was adopted on 4 June 1992, replacing the Soviet-era flag. The flag was designed by Shaken Niyazbekov.
The national flag of Turkmenistan features a white crescent and five stars representing the five regions of the country and the Five Pillars of Islam. Placed upon a green field is a symbolic representation of the country's famous carpet industry. It was introduced as the flag of Turkmenistan on 27 September 1992 to replace the Soviet-era flag which consisted of a red background with two light blue bars in the middle. The modified version with a 2:3 ratio was adopted on 23 January 2001. State Flag and Constitution Day is celebrated on 18 May.
The flag of the Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic was a plain red flag with a golden hammer and sickle and a gold-bordered red star in its upper canton and an horizontal dark blue band on the bottom fourth, representing the Caspian Sea.
The flag of the Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic was adopted by the Kazakh government on 24 January 1953. The flag resembles the flag of the Soviet Union in defaced form with a 2/9 horizontal blue (azure) bar in the lower part of the flag and the hammer and sickle in the near centre.
The flag of the Kirghiz SSR was adopted by the Presidium of the Supreme Council of the Kirghiz SSR decreed by its Decree on 22 December 1952. The 1978 constitution of the Kirghiz SSR states that the ratio of the flag is 1:2 with the blue/white/blue stripes in the middle taking 1⁄3 of the flag height and the white stripes 1⁄20 of flag height. The red, blue and white colors were derived from the Pan-Slavic colours.
The flag of the Latvian Soviet Socialist Republic shows a yellow hammer and sickle and outlined star on a red field above rippling water at the bottom, and was adopted by the (former) Latvian Soviet Socialist Republic on January 17, 1953.
The flag of the Lithuanian SSR was first adopted by the Lithuanian SSR in 1918, which was a plain red flag. After the Lithuanian SSR was established again in 1940, the flag was a red flag with the national name and a hammer and sickle in the upper canton. The flag in use from 1953 to 1988 was a red flag with the golden hammer and sickle and a gold-bordered red star in its upper canton with a white thin stripe and green thick band on the bottom.
The State Flag of the Turkmen Soviet Socialist Republic was adopted on 1 August 1953 and was replaced with the current flag of Turkmenistan in 1992. Although similar to the Flag of the Soviet Union, the layout is identical to the flag of the Kirghiz SSR with a ratio of 1:2. The two blue stripes between the red represents the rivers Amu Darya and Syr Darya, the red represents the "revolutionary struggle of the working masses", the hammer and sickle represents the peasants' and workers' union, and the red star is the symbol of the ruling Communist Party.
The first flag of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic (UkSSR) was adopted on 10 March 1919 to serve as the symbol of state of the Ukrainian SSR. Details of the official flag changed periodically before the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, but all had as their basis the communist red flag. According to the decree of the Presidium of Supreme Soviet of Ukrainian SSR on 21 November 1949, the blue in the bottom "symbolises the mightiness and beauty of the people, and the blue banner of Bohdan Khmelnytsky".
The flag of the Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic was adopted on 29 August 1952. The red represents the "revolutionary struggle of the working masses", the hammer and sickle represents the peasants' and workers' union, and the red star is the symbol of the communist party. There is no official explanation for the symbolic meanings of other elements. However, in some material the white stripes represent cotton, the blue band represents Amu Darya and irrigation in general.
The State Emblem of Uzbekistan was formally adopted on 2 July 1992 by the Government of Uzbekistan. It bears many similarities to the emblem of the former Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic, which the Republic of Uzbekistan succeeded. Like many other post-Soviet republics whose symbols do not predate the October Revolution, the current emblem retains some components of the Soviet one. Prior to 1992, Uzbekistan had an emblem similar to all other Soviet Republics, with standard communist emblems and insignia.
Transnistria, a de facto state internationally-recognised as part of Moldova, has two co-official national flags. The first co-official national flag consists of three horizontal bands of red, green, and red, of vertical width 3:2:3, and in the upper canton, is the main element of the coat of arms of Transnistria; a golden hammer and sickle and a gold-bordered red star. The hammer and sickle fit into a conventional square, and the star, a conditional circle. Transnistria adopted this design that comprises a version of the flag of the Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic used between 1952 and 1990 in the 2000 Law about State Symbols. The second co-official national flag consists of three horizontal stripes in the colors white, blue, and red, identical to the Russian flag but at a ratio of 1:2 instead of 2:3.
The flag of the Karelo-Finnish SSR was adopted by the Karelo-Finnish SSR on 3 March 1953. This flag is similar to the flag of the Soviet Union but with the blue, and green placed on the bottom. At the top of the flag at the flagpole placed golden hammer and sickle and the red star with a gold border. The green color symbolizes the forest resources, and blue represents the abundance of rivers and lakes.
The coat of arms of the Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic was adopted on 20 May 1921 by the government of the Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic. The coat of arms is loosely based on the coat of arms of the Soviet Union. It shows symbols of agriculture. The red star rising above the Caucasus stands for the future of the Georgian nation, and the hammer and sickle for the victory of Communism and the "world-wide socialist community of states".
The State Emblem of the Tajik Soviet Socialist Republic was adopted on 1 March 1937 by the government of the Tajik Soviet Socialist Republic. The emblem is based on the State Emblem of the Soviet Union. It shows symbols of agriculture. The red star is prominently featured with a small hammer and sickle within it. The rising sun stands for the future of the Tajik nation, and the star as well as the hammer and sickle for the victory of communism and the "world-wide socialist community of states". The emblem was replaced with the new emblem in 1992, which uses a similar design to the Soviet one. It was, however, was replacing the red banner with the current national flag, the big red star was replaced by the mountains, represents Pamir, the Samanid dynasty crown, and added the Quran book at below. It represents Islam as the official religion.
The coat of arms of the Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic was adopted on 10 February 1941 by the government of the Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic. The coat of arms is based on the coat of arms of the Soviet Union. It shows symbols of agriculture, an outer rim featuring wheat, corn, grapes and clover. The red banner bears the Soviet Union state motto in both the Romanian language and the Russian language. In Romanian, it was initially "Пролетарь дин тоате цэриле, униць-вэ!"; then, from the 1950s "Пролетарь дин тоате цэриле, уници-вэ!". Both are written in the Latin alphabet as "Proletari din toate țările, uniți-vă!". The acronym MSSR is shown only in Romanian in Moldovan Cyrillic ("РССМ"). The emblem was replaced on 3 November 1990 by the present coat of arms of Moldova. Currently, the unrecognized breakaway state of Transnistria uses a similar state emblem.
Communist symbolism represents a variety of themes, including revolution, the proletariat, the peasantry, agriculture, or international solidarity. The red flag, the hammer and sickle and the red star or variations thereof are some of the symbols adopted by communist movements, governments, and parties worldwide.
The Emblem of Karakalpakstan is one of the official symbols of Karakalpakstan, an autonomous republic within Uzbekistan. It was approved on April 9, 1993. The coat of arms was developed from a sketch by Karakalpak artist Jollybai Izentaev based on the emblem of Uzbekistan.
