The State Emblem of the Soviet Union; be, Дзяржаўны герб СССР; kk, ССРО мемлекеттік елтаңбасы; lt, TSRS Valstybinis herbas; lv, PSRS valsts ģerbonis; et, NSVL riigivapp} was adopted in 1923 and was used until the

dissolution of the USSR The dissolution of the Soviet Union, also negatively connoted as rus, Разва́л Сове́тского Сою́за, r=Razvál Sovétskogo Soyúza, ''Ruining of the Soviet Union''. was the process of internal disintegration within the Sov ...

in 1991. Although it technically is an

emblem An emblem is an abstract or representational pictorial image that represents a concept, like a moral truth, or an allegory, or a person, like a king or saint. Emblems vs. symbols Although the words ''emblem'' and '' symbol'' are often use ...

rather than a

coat of arms A coat of arms is a heraldic visual design on an escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the latter two being outer garments). The coat of arms on an escutcheon forms the central element of the full heraldic achievement, which in its ...

, since it does not follow traditional

heraldic Heraldry is a discipline relating to the design, display and study of armorial bearings (known as armory), as well as related disciplines, such as vexillology, together with the study of ceremony, rank and pedigree. Armory, the best-known branc ...

rules, in Russian it is called (), the word used for a traditional coat of arms. It was the first state insignia created in the style known as

socialist heraldry Socialist-style emblems usually follow a unique style consisting of communist symbolism. Although commonly referred to as coats of arms, most are not actually traditional heraldic achievements. Many communist governments purposely diverged fro ...

, a style also seen in emblems of other socialist countries such as the

emblem of the People's Republic of China The National Emblem of the People's Republic of China contains in a red circle a representation of Tiananmen Gate, the entrance gate to the Forbidden City, where Mao Zedong declared the foundation of the People's Republic of China (PRC) in ...

History

Creation

In the autumn of 1922, the Commission for the Development of Soviet Symbolics began its work in Goznak. In those days, compositions of the first Soviet brands and banknotes were created. On 10 January 1923, the Presidium of the Central Executive Committee of the USSR established a commission for the development of the state emblem and flag. At the same time, the CEC defined the main elements of the state symbols of the union: the sun, the sickle and hammer, the motto "Proletarians of all countries, unite!". In February 1923, the order for the creation of the coat of arms was handed over to

Goznak Joint Stock Company "Goznak" (short for ''Государственный знак'', or State Insignia) is a Russian joint-stock company responsible for research and development as well as manufacturing security products including banknotes, coin ...

. The artists of Goznak presented their variants, sketches of the projects of the coat of arms of artists DS Golyadkin, Ya.B. Dreyer, N.N. Kochury, V.D. Kupriyanov, P. Rumyantsev, AG Yakimchenko, I. Shadra. An interesting project was presented by artist K.I. Dunin-Borkovsky - he, as an adherent of classical heraldry, represented the coat of arms of the USSR as a heraldic shield with a sickle and a hammer.

Rejected proposals

During the establishment of the Russian Soviet Republic,

Vladimir Lenin Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov. ( 1870 – 21 January 1924), better known as Vladimir Lenin,. was a Russian revolutionary, politician, and political theorist. He served as the first and founding head of government of Soviet Russia from 1917 to 1 ...

and his comrades had considered the inclusion of a sword symbol in addition to the hammer and sickle as part of the state seal on which the flag was eventually based. The idea was dismissed as too visually aggressive, with Lenin apparently affirming, "A sword is not one of our symbols."

Successful proposals

The project by the head of the artistic and reproduction department of Goznak, V. N. Adrianov, is very close to the design of the officially approved state emblem of the Soviet Union. He suggested that an image of the globe should be included in the coat of arms, to represent membership of the Soviet Union being open to all nations of the world. On 28 June 1923, he replaced the previously planned monogram "СССР" with a red star at the top of the proposed emblem.

Approval

The design of the successful proposed emblem was redrawn by Ivan Dubasov. In his first draft, slogans were placed on a red ribbon covering the lower part of the coat of arms. Then it was decided to place mottos in 6 languages on the tape interceptions.

First version (1923–1936)

The project of the first version of the state emblem was accepted on 6 July 1923 by the 2nd session of the Central Executive Committee (CIK) and the version was completed on 22 September of that year. This design was fixed in the

1924 Soviet Constitution The 1924 Constitution of the Soviet Union was the constitution of the Soviet Union adopted on 31 January 1924. According to Archie Brown the constitution was never an accurate guide to political reality in the USSR. For example, the fact that th ...

: "The State Emblem of the USSR is composed of a sickle and a hammer on a globe depicted in the rays of the sun and framed by ears of wheat, with the inscription "proletarians of the world, unite!" in six languages—Russian,

Ukrainian Ukrainian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Ukraine * Something relating to Ukrainians, an East Slavic people from Eastern Europe * Something relating to demographics of Ukraine in terms of demography and population of Ukraine * So ...

, Belarusian, Georgian, Armenian,

Azerbaijani Azerbaijani may refer to: * Something of, or related to Azerbaijan * Azerbaijanis * Azerbaijani language See also * Azerbaijan (disambiguation) * Azeri (disambiguation) * Azerbaijani cuisine * Culture of Azerbaijan The culture of Azerbaijan ...

. At the top of the Emblem is a five-pointed star." The emblem was created by Vladimir Adrianov and finished by

Ivan Dubasov Ivan Ivanovich Dubasov (russian: Иван Иванович Дубасов) (30 November 1897, Odintsovo, Moscow Governorate, Russian Empire – 15 March 1988, Moscow, Russian SFSR, USSR) was a Russian artist active in the Soviet Union. He was ...

. In 1931, Tajik was added after the formation of the

Tajik SSR The Tajik Soviet Socialist Republic,, ''Çumhuriji Şūraviji Sotsialistiji Toçikiston''; russian: Таджикская Советская Социалистическая Республика, ''Tadzhikskaya Sovetskaya Sotsialisticheskaya Resp ...

in 1929.

Second version (1936–1946)

According to the

1936 Soviet Constitution Events January–February * January 20 – George V of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions and Emperor of India, dies at his Sandringham Estate. The Prince of Wales succeeds to the throne of the United Kingdom as King E ...

, the USSR consisted of eleven republics. Hence the major new version's difference from the previous one was eleven ribbons bearing USSR State Motto inscriptions in eleven languages. The languages added were Turkmen, Uzbek, Kazakh,

Kyrgyz Kyrgyz, Kirghiz or Kyrgyzstani may refer to: * Someone or something related to Kyrgyzstan *Kyrgyz people *Kyrgyz national games *Kyrgyz language *Kyrgyz culture *Kyrgyz cuisine *Yenisei Kirghiz *The Fuyü Gïrgïs language in Northeastern China ...

and Tajik.

Third version (1946–1956)

The number of republics in the USSR became 16 after September 1939, before Germany's invasion of the Soviet Union began in June 1941, but the state emblem was changed to reflect this only after the end of the Second World War. By a Decision of

Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR The Presidium of the Supreme Soviet (russian: Президиум Верховного Совета, Prezidium Verkhovnogo Soveta) was a body of state power in the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR).Turkmen, Uzbek, Tajik, Kazakh,

languages were updated due to the transfer from

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through ...

Cyrillic The Cyrillic script ( ), Slavonic script or the Slavic script, is a writing system used for various languages across Eurasia. It is the designated national script in various Slavic, Turkic, Mongolic, Uralic, Caucasian and Iranic-speaking co ...

script of the respective languages within the USSR. Also, several language from new republics were added:

Estonian Estonian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Estonia, a country in the Baltic region in northern Europe * Estonians, people from Estonia, or of Estonian descent * Estonian language * Estonian cuisine * Estonian culture See also * ...

, Latvian, Lithuanian, Romanian Cyrillic ( Moldavian), and

Finnish Finnish may refer to: * Something or someone from, or related to Finland * Culture of Finland * Finnish people or Finns, the primary ethnic group in Finland * Finnish language, the national language of the Finnish people * Finnish cuisine See also ...

Fourth and final version (1956–1991)

Coat of arms of the Soviet Union (printed version)

In 1956, the

Karelo-Finnish SSR The Karelo-Finnish Soviet Socialist Republic (Karelo-Finnish SSR; fi, ; rus, Каре́ло-Фи́нская Сове́тская Социалисти́ческая Респу́блика, r=Karelo-Finskaya Sovetskaya Sotsialisticheskaya Resp ...

was transformed into the

Karelo-Finnish ASSR The Karelian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic ( rus, Каре́льская Автоно́мная Сове́тская Социалисти́ческая Респу́блика, r=Karelskaya Avtonomnaya Sovetskaya Sotsialisticheskaya Respub ...

, and soon this was reflected on the USSR state emblem. By a decision of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR on 12 September 1956, the ribbon bearing the USSR State Motto in Finnish was removed. A minor change in the Belarusian inscription was a decision of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR on 1 April 1958. Inscriptions on the ribbons (which are translated into English as "''Proletarians of the world, unite!''") are as follows: } () , et, Kõigi maade proletaarlased, ühinege! , - , tg, Пролетарҳои ҳамаи мамлакатҳо, як шавед! () , hy, Պրոլետարներ բոլոր երկրների, միացե՜ք () , - , lv, Visu zemju proletārieši, savienojieties! , ky, Бардык өлкөлөрдүн пролетарлары, бириккиле! () , - , lt, Visų šalių proletarai, vienykitės! ,

Moldovan Cyrillic The Moldovan Cyrillic alphabet is a Cyrillic alphabet designed for the Romanian language spoken in the Soviet Union ( Moldovan) and was in official use from 1924 to 1932 and 1938 to 1989 (and still in use today in the breakaway Moldovan regio ...

: Пролетарь дин тоатe цэриле, уници-вэ! () , - , ka, პროლეტარებო ყველა ქვეყნისა, შეერთდით! () , az, Бүтүн өлкәләрин пролетарлары, бирләшин!, italics=no () , - , uz, Бутун дунё пролетарлари, бирлашингиз! () , kk, Барлық елдердің пролетарлары, бірігіңдер! () , - , uk, Пролетарі всіх країн, єднайтеся! () , be, Пралетарыі ўсіх краін, яднайцеся! () , - , colspan="2" style="text-align:center" , russian: Пролетарии всех стран, соединяйтесь! () The coat of arms continued to appear after the

dissolution of the Soviet Union The dissolution of the Soviet Union, also negatively connoted as rus, Разва́л Сове́тского Сою́за, r=Razvál Sovétskogo Soyúza, ''Ruining of the Soviet Union''. was the process of internal disintegration within the Sov ...

even in

Soviet ruble The ruble or rouble (russian: wikt:рубль, рубль) was the currency of the Soviet Union, introduced in 1922, replacing the Ruble#Russian Empire, Imperial Russian ruble. One ruble was divided into 100 kopecks ( – ''kopeyka'', ''kopeyki'' ...

banknotes until 1994 when many

post-Soviet states The post-Soviet states, also known as the former Soviet Union (FSU), the former Soviet Republics and in Russia as the near abroad (russian: links=no, ближнее зарубежье, blizhneye zarubezhye), are the 15 sovereign states that wer ...

began to issue its own currencies. Public usage of the Soviet emblem formally ended in 2002 when Russia and other former republics ceased issuing Soviet passports. It continues to appear in public places within Russian territory.

Description

The state emblem shows the traditional Soviet emblems of the Hammer and Sickle and the

Red Star A red star, five-pointed and filled, is a symbol that has often historically been associated with communist ideology, particularly in combination with the hammer and sickle, but is also used as a purely socialist symbol in the 21st century. I ...

over a globe, and two wreaths of emmer wheat covered by "

Workers of the world, unite! The political slogan "Workers of the world, unite!" is one of the rallying cries from '' The Communist Manifesto'' (1848) by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels (german: Proletarier aller Länder, vereinigt Euch!, literally "Proletarians of all c ...

" in the

official language An official language is a language given supreme status in a particular country, state, or other jurisdiction. Typically the term "official language" does not refer to the language used by a people or country, but by its government (e.g. judiciary, ...

s of the

Soviet Republics The Republics of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics or the Union Republics ( rus, Сою́зные Респу́блики, r=Soyúznye Respúbliki) were national-based administrative units of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics ( ...

, in the reverse order they were mentioned in the Soviet Constitution. Each Soviet Republic (SSR) and Autonomous Soviet Republic (ASSR) had its own coat of arms, largely inspired by the state emblem of the Union.

Gallery

File:Coat of arms of the Soviet Union 1923–1936.svg, 1922–1929 File:Coat of arms of USSR 1929–1936.svg, 1929–1936 File:Coat of arms of USSR 1936–1946.svg, 1936–1946 File:Coat of arms of the Soviet Union (1946-1956).svg, 1946–1956 File:State Emblem of the Soviet Union.svg, 1956–1991

Notes

References

{{Authority control

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...

* National symbols of the Soviet Union