Flag of the Soviet Union

Flag of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics
Vexillological symbol :	?
Aspect ratio:	1: 2
Officially accepted:	August 15, 1980 (latest version), originally November 12, 1923

The first official flag of the Soviet Union ( Russian флаг Советского Союза Flag sovjetskogo soyusa ) was adopted in December 1922 at the First Congress of Soviets of the USSR.

history

^{? ?} Flag of the Soviet Union - back side

The red flag of the Communist Party was declared the national flag.

On December 30, 1922, Congress adopted a declaration on the establishment and the first constitution of the Soviet Union . Article 22 of the adopted constitution stated: "The USSR has a national flag , a state coat of arms and a state seal ."

On July 6, 1923 it was decided that the flag should consist of a red cloth with the national coat of arms of the Soviet Union in the center. The unusual flag format 1: 4 was chosen. However, this flag was never used on a large scale and was only in official use for four months.

The third session of the Central Executive Committee of the Soviet Union changed the flag to the more popular version on November 12, 1923. The more common 1: 2 format was chosen. The national coat of arms was replaced by a yellow-framed five-pointed red star and a hammer-and-sickle symbol underneath in the jack .

The flag was changed on August 15, 1980 in such a way that the flag was made lighter and the symbols on the back were omitted, so it was red in color. As early as 1955, the shape of the hammer and sickle on the flag had been varied somewhat, but it was retained.

With the dissolution of the Soviet Union on December 31, 1991, the flag of the Soviet Union lost its function as a national flag.

On April 15, 1996, Russian President Boris Yeltsin signed a declaration that the so-called Victory Flag is equivalent to the Russian flag , making this variant of the flag of the Soviet Union the second national flag of Russia .

The victory flag is a variant of the flag that was hoisted on the Reichstag building on May 1, 1945 and symbolized the end of the Second World War in Europe . The difference to the flag of the Soviet Union is that the star is slightly larger and the hammer and sickle are removed.

See also : At the Berlin Reichstag, May 2, 1945

Under President Vladimir Putin , the victory flag became the official flag of the Russian Army.

On April 20, 2007, President Putin's controversial law on the victory flag was repealed .

Service flags until 1991

SV = aspect ratio

flag	SV	date	function	description
	2: 3	1946-1991	Soviet Army flag	Yellow-edged red star on a red cloth in the center.
	2: 3	-1991	Naval war flag of the Soviet Navy	On the left a red star on a white cloth, on the right hammer and sickle with a blue ribbon below.
	2: 3	1932-1991	Jack of the Soviet Navy	On a red cloth a white-rimmed red star in the center with a white-rimmed hammer and sickle in the middle.
	2: 3	-1991	Flag of Soviet auxiliary ships	The flag of the Soviet Navy in the left upper corner on dark blue cloth.
	2: 3	-1991	Flag of the border troops of the USSR at sea	The flag of the Soviet Navy in the left upper corner on a green cloth.

Historical development (1922–1991)

flag	SV	date	function	description
	1: 2	1922-1923	first flag of the USSR	National coat of arms of the Soviet Union on red cloth in the center.
		1923-1955	State and trade flag of the USSR	Dark red flag cloth with a red star and hammer and sickle in the upper left corner.
		1955-1980	State and trade flag of the USSR	Dark red flag cloth with a red star and hammer and sickle in the upper left corner.
		1980-1991	State and trade flag of the USSR	Light red flag cloth with a red star and hammer and sickle in the upper left corner, reverse side in the same color but without symbols.

Usage today (since 1996)

flag	SV	date	function	description
	1: 2	1996-2007	Flag of victory of the Red Army , flag of the Russian army; alternative flag of Russia	Golden star in the left upper corner on a red background, a variant of the flag of the Soviet Union
	1: 2	since 1923	Aeroflot flag	Yellow star on a red background with a blue triangle, on it a winged hammer and sickle.

Flags of the subjects of the Soviet Union

According to the constitution, the Soviet Union was a federal state to which Soviet Socialist Republics (SSR) belonged. These republics were also known as union republics .

An exception was the Russian Federal Soviet Socialist Republic (RSFSR), in whose name the federal character was underlined.

The Union republics, especially the RSFSR, had some federal members themselves, which were referred to as the Autonomous Socialist Soviet Republics (ASSR).

Original flags of the Union Republics (1922 to circa 1950)

Initially, the Union Republics and ASSR carried a red flag with a text in the upper left corner. The text consisted of the abbreviation of the country name in Cyrillic and Russian and the language of the respective people in Cyrillic, Latin or their own script.

Below that, the full country name appeared again in multiple languages. Additional lines have been added for republics with several peoples or peoples using their own script. From the mid- 1930s onwards , the abbreviations were replaced by hammer and sickle and the name of the republic written out in multiple languages ​​was used below.

flag	SV	date	Union republic	existence
	1: 2	1940-1952	Karelo-Finnish SSR	1940–1956 (afterwards ASSR )

Later flags of the Union Republics (circa 1950–1991)

Flags of the Union Republics on Victory Day 2010

At the beginning of the 1950s , the Union republics introduced new flags, which were still based on the flag of the Soviet Union but were supplemented with their own colors and symbols. The text with the name of the SSR has been removed from the flag.

flag	SV	date	Union republic	Membership in the USSR	Current status
	1: 2	1952-1991	Armenian SSR	1936-1991	Armenia
	1: 2	1952-1991	Azerbaijani SSR	1936-1991	Azerbaijan
	1: 2	1953-1991	Estonian SSR	1940-1991	Estonia
	1: 2	1951-1991	Georgian SSR	1936-1991	Georgia
	1: 2	1952-1956	Karelo-Finnish SSR	1940–1956 (afterwards ASSR )	Republic of Karelia
	1: 2	1953-1991	Kazakh SSR	1936-1991	Kazakhstan
	1: 2	1952-1991	Kyrgyz SSR	1936-1991	Kyrgyzstan
	1: 2	1953-1990	Latvian SSR	1940-1991	Latvia
	1: 2	1953-1990	Lithuanian SSR	1940-1991	Lithuania
	1: 2	1952-1991	Moldovan SSR	1940-1991	Republic of Moldova
	1: 2	1954-1991	Russian SFSR	1922-1991	Russian Federation
	1: 2	1953-1991	Tajik SSR	1929-1991	Tajikistan
	1: 2	1953-1991	Turkmen SSR	1925-1991	Turkmenistan
	1: 2	1949-1991	Ukrainian SSR	1922-1991	Ukraine
	1: 2	1952-1991	Uzbek SSR	1925-1991	Uzbekistan
	1: 2	1951-1991	Belarusian SSR	1922-1991	Belarus

Flags of the Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republics (1922–1991)

Originally the flags of the ASSR were formed according to the same scheme as those of the SSR. The name of the ASSR and the superordinate SSR were given as multilingual text on a red background in the upper corner on the left. A hammer and sickle were added in the mid-1930s .

At the beginning of the 1950s, this regulation was changed so that the name of the ASSR was shown on the flag of the higher Union republic as yellow text.

flag	SV	date	Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic	Union republic	Current status
	1: 2	1924-1941	ASSR of the Volga Germans	Russian SFSR	dissolved; Parts of Saratov Oblast
	1: 2	1956-1991	Karelian ASSR	Russian SFSR	Republic of Karelia
	1: 2	1957-1988	Checheno-Ingush ASSR	Russian SFSR	Chechnya and Ingushetia
	1: 2	1978-1992	Tuvan ASSR	Russian SFSR	Tuva

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Putin rejects controversial law on the flag of victory. April 20, 2007, accessed August 7, 2011 . 

Web links

Commons : Flags of the Soviet Union  - album containing pictures, videos and audio files

• The flags of the Soviet Union in the Flags of the World (English).