Communism

By Nicky Frasca, Grade 8

Yes, the Soviet Union's downfall from the economic perspective. It was definitely a thing. The definition of communism is, "a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society." Basically, it means that "yours" is now ours. It reflects a distinctive libertarian, which represents the upholding of liberty and political freedom, to a more vanguardist, which represents the more class-conscious politically advanced classes, through the development of a constitutionally socialist state.

Karl Marx invented communism during the 19th century. Marxism gained a huge following across most of Europe throughout the late 1800s, which lead to a lot of failed revolutions. Although Marxist theory suggested that the places ripest for social revolution, through peaceful transition or by force of arms, were industrial societies, communism was successful in underdeveloped countries with poverty, the most famous example being the Russian Empire. In 1917, the Bolshevik Party seized power over the Russian Revolution and created the Soviet Union in 1922, turning it into the world's first self-declared socialist state. The Bolsheviks thoroughly embraced communism seeing their struggle being international rather being purely a regional cause. They then sought to spread communism, with the help of the Communist International, which formed with the perspective of aiding and assisting communist parties around the world. But we all know this failed and I'm not gonna go into the details too much because then this would be an almost 100-page article that no one would read. Now let's get into the main Communist flag, the sickle and hammer.

The State Flag of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics commonly known as the Soviet flag was the official state flag of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, USSR for short, from 1922 to 1991. The flag's design and symbolism are derived from several sources but emerged during the Russian Revolution. The flag is also an international symbol of the communist movement as a whole. The flag is red with a gold sickle overlapping with a gold hammer and a star. The red part was a traditional symbol of revolution long before 1917. The hammer, which represents the workers, and the sickle, which represents the peasants, represent the victorious and enduring revolutionary alliance. This is topped with a star representing the Communist party of the soviet union. The first flag was made in December 1922. In 1923, 1924, 1936, and 1955, a statute on the flag was adopted, which resulted in changes to the hammer's length and the sickle's shape. In 1980, an amendment was made to the 1955 flag which reversed the side of the hammer and sickle. However, the legal description of the hammer, sickle, and star remained the same.

The citations are below if you want to read them. 

Citation

Flag of the Soviet Union. (2022, October 15). In Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_of_the_Soviet_Union

Communism. (2022, November 3). In Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Communism

History of communism. (2022, October 30). In Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_communism