The flag of the Lithuanian SSR was adopted by the Lithuanian SSR on July 30, 1940. The flag was red with a gold hammer and sickle in the top-left corner, and the Latin characters LIETUVOS TSR (Lithuanian SSR in the Lithuanian language) above them in gold sans-serif lettering.
On July 15, 1953, a new flag was adopted. It was modified to meet the new requirements for all flags of the Soviet socialist republics. The top red portion took ⅔ of the width and incorporated the mandatory hammer and sickle and red star. The bottom part could be customized by each republic. Lithuania added a narrow white and a larger green (¼ of the width) strips. The flag was abandoned in November 1988, even before Lithuania declared independence in March 1990. The Supreme Soviet of the Lithuanian SSR, inspired by pro-independence Sąjūdis, amended the constitution and adopted the tricolor flag of Lithuania that was used during the interwar years.
Famous quotes containing the words flag, soviet, socialist and/or republic:
“—Here, the flag snaps in the glare and silence
Of the unbroken ice. I stand here,
The dogs bark, my beard is black, and I stare
At the North Pole. . .
And now what? Why, go back.
Turn as I please, my step is to the south.”
—Randall Jarrell (1914–1965)
“They were right. The Soviet régime is not the embodiment of evil as you think in the West. They have laws and I broke them. I hate tea and they love tea. Who is wrong?”
—Alexander Zinoviev (b. 1922)
“Democracy is the wholesome and pure air without which a socialist public organization cannot live a full-blooded life.”
—Mikhail Gorbachev (b. 1931)
“Jean Jacques Rousseau ... is nothing but a fool in my eyes when he takes it upon himself to criticise society; he did not understand it, and approached it with the heart of an upstart flunkey.... For all his preaching a Republic and the overthrow of monarchical titles, the upstart is mad with joy if a Duke alters the course of his after-dinner stroll to accompany one of his friends.”
—Stendhal [Marie Henri Beyle] (1783–1842)