Communist symbolism consists of a series of symbols that represent (either literally or figuratively) a variety of themes associated with communism. These themes may include (but are not limited to) revolution, the proletariat, the peasantry, agriculture, or international solidarity. Communist states, parties and movements use these symbols to advance and create solidarity within their cause.
Usually these symbols, along with a pentangle representing either the five inhabited continents (in the context of the six-continent model where Eurasia is counted as a single continent) or the five components of communist society (the peasants, the workers, the army, the intellectuals, and the youth), appear in yellow on a red background representing revolution. The flag of the Soviet Union incorporated a yellow-outlined red star and a yellow hammer and sickle on red. The flags of Vietnam, China, Angola, and Mozambique would all incorporate similar symbolism under communist rule.
The hammer and sickle have become the pan-communist symbol, appearing on the flags of most communist parties around the world. However, the flag of the Korean Workers' Party includes a hammer representing industrial workers, a hoe representing agricultural workers, and a brush (traditional writing-implement) representing the intelligentsia.
In Hungary, Latvia, Moldova, Lithuania and Poland, communist symbols are banned.
Read more about Communist Symbolism: Other Communist Symbols
Famous quotes containing the words communist and/or symbolism:
“In communist society, where nobody has one exclusive sphere of activity but each can become accomplished in any branch he wishes, society regulates the general production and thus makes it possible for me to do one thing today and another tomorrow, to hunt in the morning, fish in the afternoon, rear cattle in the evening, criticize after dinner, just as I have a mind, without ever becoming hunter, fisherman, shepherd or critic.”
—Karl Marx (1818–1883)
“...I remembered the rose bush that had reached a thorny branch out through the ragged fence, and caught my dress, detaining me when I would have passed on. And again the symbolism of it all came over me. These memories and visions of the poor—they were the clutch of the thorns. Social workers have all felt it. It holds them to their work, because the thorns curve backward, and one cannot pull away.”
—Albion Fellows Bacon (1865–1933)