History of the Hammer & Sickle

[Ander]

Does anyone really know where this symbol came from? I looked it up on Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hammer_and_sickle) but I didn't really learn anything. I already knew that the hammer represents the workers while the sickle is for peasants but other than that, I know very little. For example, who was the first person to put the two together to create this symbol?

Also, is the hammer and sickle more a symbol for communism or the Soviet Union?


Originally posted by Wikipedia
It is best known from having been incorporated into the red flag of the Soviet Union

[PigmerikanMao]

☭ <- Teehee&#33; :D

[RedKnight]

Here is what I found out.
History and symbology
The hammer and sickle itself, originate from the unique Russian unity of the peasants (the sickle) with the workers (the hammer) who together formed the Soviet Russian state. The Red field is symbolism of the blood that has been spilt by workers the world over in the fight for their emancipation, and was directly inherited from the red banner flown at the Paris Commune; the original and hitherto “base” symbol of a worker’s government flag. The single yellow star is both the representation of the life and immense energy of the sun, empty because within is the blood or production of workers struggle; and also the five points of the star symbolize the single unity and international representation of the government — each of the five points is representative of the five (up to then known/recognized) continents.
Brian Basgen (Marxists Internet Archive Director), 07 Jul 2000

Soviet flag with hammer, sickle and star was not created in 1918&#33; It was adopted in 1923. The star on the flag was red with yellow border (not plain red). Only the coat of arms and some military colours were with hammer and sickle in 1918. Hammer and sickle existed in soviet symbolism since 1917.
Victor Lomantsov, 08 Jul 2000 and 09 Jul 2000http://www.crwflags.com/fotw/flags/su.html
The second most important emblem of the state of workers and peasants - the sickle and hammer - also emerged in the revolutionary months of 1917-1918. It is hard to say where this emblem was born, and it is hard to name the author.

The first emergence of the sickle and hammer is possibly from replacement of the plough and hammer in the flags of the Armenian revolutionary units.

In early autumn 1918 a competition was opened for the best project of flag, coat of arms, seal and money design. In the requirements for the competition it is written that &#39;in the composition there must be elements symbolizing the workers&#39; and peasants&#39; republic - the tools of their work (e.g., sickle and hammer)&#39;.

In March the jury of the SNK considered designs for the state seal and coat of arms: on a red background shone the light of a rising sun, surrounded by sheaves of wheat, on a scarlet ribbon are the five letters &#39;RSFSR&#39;, in the centre is a sickle and hammer, and on from the crossed sheaves emerges an upward pointing sword. Lenin liked this design, but he commented that &#39;a sword is not our emblem&#39;, and suggested it be removed it from the arms.

The definition of the coat of arms was made by sculptor N.A. Andreev. Before the end of preparations for the 1 May celebration, the &#39;new project of the seal (sickle and hammer)&#39; was used &#39;as a pattern for the decoration of the House of the Soviets&#39;. The emblem of the crossed sickle and hammer was widely presented in celebratory decorations in the squares and streets of Moscow. Their authors were, independently, different artists, among others S.V. Chehonin and E.I. Kamzolkin. http://community.livejournal.com/heraldry/6471.html

[Angry Young Man]

It&#39;s not brain surgery figuring out the symbolism of the H+S.

It is the unity of the industrial and agricultural labourers on their shared path to freedom. Of course, nowadays steelworkers use jackhammers and farmers combines, but you can&#39;t really write a poem about the greatest soldier having on his breast and cap a crossed combine and a jackhammer.

[Dr Mindbender]

its not brain surgery working out the symbolism of the H&S but heres another quandry-

What is the significance of the red star with gold outline that is often depicted above it? We know the colour red is the anger and blood of the workers, but why the star and the gold fringe?

[xAlex]

Stars are a symbol of the future, because they were used to navigate by and a set a course to a destination. The star is five-pointed for the continents. Gold is the color of victory.

[bolshevik butcher]

The star also represents the five different kinds of workers, I think five different areas of industry but I can&#39;t remember what they are. There may also have been religous/biblical conitations in its origin, although these are not used anymore. So basically there is no one origin of the star to my knwoledge.

The hammer and sickle is different to the star in that unlike it I think it is an exclusively communist/anarchist (?) symbol. I&#39;m not sure who used it originally, but as has been pointed out it is a symbol of the unity of workers and pesasnts in struggle. It was most famously used by the bolshevik party but I don&#39;t know if it was them who used it first.

[Die Neue Zeit]

Just a question: when I was in high school, lots of encyclopedic texts said that the red star represented the Communist Party. When did the representation of the krasnaya zvezda change (from continents to the Partiya)?

[proleterian fist]

Hammer and sickle represents labour.
It is the combination agricultare and industry.Therefore,it was symbol SSRU.

[Marsella]

What about the Red Flag?

I&#39;m not sure of the claim that it originated in the Paris Commune...

I think it was before that.

[Dr Mindbender]

Originally posted by [email protected] 31, 2007 05:52 pm
What about the Red Flag?

I&#39;m not sure of the claim that it originated in the Paris Commune...

I think it was before that.
That does partly make sense bearing in mind 1/3 of the french tricolour is red, but... ...like i said, I think the colour red simply represents the blood of the workers. The red flag on its own is therefore simply intended as the most generic left wing symbol.

[proleterian fist]

Red always represents blood which has spilled out for independence of country.

[kromando33]

Originally posted by Ulster Socialist+December 31, 2007 07:55 pm--> (Ulster Socialist @ December 31, 2007 07:55 pm)
[email protected] 31, 2007 05:52 pm
What about the Red Flag?

I&#39;m not sure of the claim that it originated in the Paris Commune...

I think it was before that.
That does partly make sense bearing in mind 1/3 of the french tricolour is red, but... ...like i said, I think the colour red simply represents the blood of the workers. The red flag on its own is therefore simply intended as the most generic left wing symbol. [/b]
The tricolor actually came about as a bit of a mistake, after the initial French Revolution France was supposed to be a constitutional monarchy, the red was to represent the &#39;Left&#39;, and blue the &#39;Right&#39;, and in the middle the white of the bourbon monarchy. This of course was kinda made redundant by the fact that the King was later stripped of his title and made a regular citizen under the newly former Republic, and later executed. Don&#39;t quote me on this, I maybe wrong, but I think the Jacobins later on may have used the red flag.

Also, I believe it simply means the blood shed by the workers in class warfare. Also you might notice that the flag of the Korean Worker&#39;s Party has a pen in the middle of the hammer and sickle, meaning that the white-collar intelligentsia have a &#39;strata&#39; in society with the peasants and workers, Junche is actually very technocratic.

[Marsella]

Some interesting history from Wikipedia:


From as early as the 15th century the red flag was known as the "flag of defiance" [1]. It was raised in cities and castles under siege to indicate that there would be "no surrender" [2] [3].

It is known that from about 1300, Norman ships would fly red streamers to indicate that they would "give no quarter" (take no prisoners) in battle. This usage persisted into the 17th century, when the flag was adopted by Buccaneers, who were pirates of French origin operating in the West Indies. Buccaneers would initially hoist the Jolly Roger to intimidate their foes. If the victims chose to fight rather than submit to being boarded, the pirates would then raise the red flag to indicate that once the ship had been captured, no man would be spared.[2]

The red flag first became associated with revolutionary left-wing politics during the French Revolution, when it was adopted by the Jacobin Club.[3] The Jacobins controlled the insurrectionary Paris Commune during the assault on the Tuileries, the September Massacres, and throughout the Reign of Terror.

In 1797, when sailors of Britain&#39;s Royal Navy mutinied at the Nore on the mouth of the River Thames, they hoisted the red flag on several of the ships.

The flag became the symbol of the Merthyr riots of 1831, in South Wales, when workers took over the town for five days, until they were massacred by soldiers. Their flag is said to have been a shirt soaked in calf&#39;s blood by Dic Penderyn.

Socialists and radical republicans in the 1848 French Revolution adopted the red flag, ostensibly as a symbol of "the blood of angry workers." Supporters of the more moderate French Second Republic, which had been established in the first phase of the revolution, rallied to the tricolore. The red flag subsequently became the banner of the Paris Commune in 1871, at which time it became firmly associated with socialism. This tradition was bolstered in the rallies in Chicago in 1886, which resulted in the execution of some of the Haymarket Eight (cf. Haymarket Riot).

[Holden Caulfield]

i think that the meaning of symbolic icons should depend on what you want them to believe, ive got a che &#39;t-shirt&#39; i dont follow guevaras policies religiously but he is a symbol of class truggle,

The people&#39;s flag is deepest red,
It shrouded oft our martyr&#39;d dead
And ere their limbs grew stiff and cold,
Their hearts&#39; blood dyed its ev&#39;ry fold.

chorus
Then raise the scarlet standard high,
Within its shade we&#39;ll live and die,
Though cowards flinch and traitors sneer,
We&#39;ll keep the red flag flying here.

Look round, the Frenchman loves its blaze,
The sturdy German chants its praise,
In Moscow&#39;s vaults its hymns are sung,
Chicago swells the surging throng.

It waved above our infant might
When all ahead seemed dark as night;
It witnessed many a deed and vow,
We must not change its colour now.

It well recalls the triumphs past;
It gives the hope of peace at last:
The banner bright, the symbol plain,
Of human right and human gain.

It suits today the meek and base,
Whose minds are fixed on pelf and place,
To cringe before the rich man&#39;s frown
And haul the sacred emblem down.

With heads uncovered swear we all
To bear it onward till we fall.
Come dungeon dark or gallows grim,
This song shall be our parting hymn.