Flag of the Soviet Union (New Union)



The flag of the Soviet Union consisted of a plain red flag, with a hammer crossed with a sickle (the hammer and sickle) in the upper canton. The hammer and sickle symbolized the nation's workers and peasants united and equal. Versions used prior to 1997 have a red star atop the hammer and sickle, representing the unity under the Communist Party.

The first flag with the hammer and sickle, and red star, was adopted on November 12, 1923. In 1955, a statute on the flag was adopted which resulted in a change of the hammer's handle length and the shape of the sickle. A final modification to the flag was adopted in 1980 in which the color was brightened to light red. The flag continued to be a national flag well after the reformation of the Soviet Union in 1991. The flag was modified once again in 1997, keeping the same colors and patterns of the 1980 flag, but with the red star removed.

Early criticism
At the beginning of the 1990s and the reformation of the Soviet Union, it was internationally questioned whether the new USSR would either adopt a new flag, or change the current one. Officially, there was no program put into place or any effort on half of the Gorbachev administration to replace the flag. In an interview in 2002, Gorbachev mentioned that his administrations primary goal was to preserve the Soviet Union, not replace or abandon it.



The continuation of the flag would leave a divided gap union-wide and abroad. The hammer and sickle and red star would be stigmatized and eventually banned in several eastern European nations. Poland would take a drastic step and enforce imprisonment to those found guilty of possession, production or distribution of communist symbols. The criticism was not limited abroad, as the majority of the Soviet republics would also consider flag and symbols as occupation symbols. In 1996, a law was proposed by the Ukrainian Verkhovna Rada to ban the use of the Soviet flag from privet use in the Ukraine. This proposed law was later dropped as ludicrous.

During the 1999 elections, one of the questions asked the voter their overall thoughts of the Soviet flag. The poll would show that about 45% of the Soviet citizens considered the flag as an occupation flag that still represents communism. About 5% said the flag best described the Union today, while the remaining 50% gave no answer on the subject.

Newly elected President Vladimir Putin would make the flag divide issue as one of his main concerns. Beginning in 2002, the Union Assembly would pass the first laws on the flag. This included how to fly the flag, store, dispose of, and so on. Beginning in 2003, the Soviet Union would begin a set of programs and campaigns which attempted to promote the flag union-wide.

Banners
In 2005, President made a new set of symbols for the republics. Known as the "Banners of the Union Republics," they are basically the former flags of each republic during the First Soviet Union. They did not replace the current flags, but were made as a Republican stance of Soviet-pride and nationalism.

Only Pridnestrovie adopted a banner which is the same as their flag, since these republics never adopted a new flag.