Hammer and sickle in the context of Bans on communist symbols


Hammer and sickle in the context of Bans on communist symbols

⭐ Core Definition: Hammer and sickle

The hammer and sickle (Unicode: U+262D HAMMER AND SICKLE) is a socialist and communist symbol representing proletarian solidarity between industrial and agricultural workers. It was first adopted during the Russian Revolution at the end of World War I, the hammer representing workers and the sickle representing the peasants.

After World War I (from which Russia withdrew in 1917) and the Russian Civil War, the hammer and sickle became more widely used as a symbol for labor within the Soviet Union (USSR) and for international proletarian unity. It was taken up by many communist movements around the world, some with local variations. The hammer and sickle remains commonplace in Communist states, such as China, Cuba, Laos, North Korea, and Vietnam, but also some former Soviet republics following the dissolution of the Soviet Union, such as Belarus and Russia. Some countries have imposed bans on communist symbols, where the display of the hammer and sickle is prohibited.

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Hammer and sickle in the context of Naxalite

Naxalism is the communist ideology of the Naxalites or Naxals, a grouping of political and insurgent groups from India. It is influenced by Maoist political sentiment and ideology.

Inspired by Maoism, Charu Majumdar wrote the Historic Eight Documents, which became the basis of Naxalism. Majumdar, Kanu Sanyal, and Jangal Santhal formed a faction of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) that called for a protracted people's war. The Naxalite–Maoist insurgency started after a 1967 uprising in the village of Naxalbari, West Bengal. The ideology takes its name from the village. After the uprising, Sanyal established the Communist Party of India (Marxist–Leninist). Majumdar's writings became popular in urban areas. As students in Kolkata began to join the Naxalite movement, Majumdar shifted the ideology's focus beyond rural areas. The Naxalites splintered into various groups supportive of Maoist ideology. Under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act of India (1967), some Naxalite organisations are designated as terrorist groups.

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Hammer and sickle in the context of Jewish Bolshevism

Jewish Bolshevism, also Judeo–Bolshevism, is an antisemitic and anti-communist conspiracy theory that claims that the Russian Revolution of 1917 was a Jewish plot and that Jews controlled the Soviet Union and international communist movements, often in furtherance of a plan to destroy Western civilization. It was one of the main Nazi beliefs that served as an ideological justification for the German invasion of the Soviet Union and the Holocaust.

After the Russian Revolution, the antisemitic canard was the title of the pamphlet The Jewish Bolshevism, which featured in the racist propaganda of the anti-communist White movement forces during the Russian Civil War (1918–1922). During the 1930s, the Nazi Party in Germany and the German American Bund in the United States propagated the antisemitic theory to their followers, sympathisers, and fellow travellers. Nazi Germany used the trope to implement anti-Slavic policies and initiate racial war against the Soviet Union, portraying Slavs as inferior humans controlled by Jews to destroy Aryan people.

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Hammer and sickle in the context of Flag of the Soviet Union

The State Flag of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, also simply known as the Soviet flag or the Red Banner, was a red flag with two communist symbols displayed in the canton: a gold hammer and sickle topped off by a red five-point star bordered in gold. The flag's design and symbolism are derived from several sources, but emerged during the Russian Revolution. It has also come to serve as the standard symbol representing communism as a whole, recognized as such in international circles, even after the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991.

The plain red flag, which was a traditional revolutionary symbol long before 1917, was incorporated into the Soviet flag to pay tribute to the international aspect of the workers' revolution. On the other hand, the unique hammer-and-sickle design was a modern industrial touch adopted from the Russian Revolution; it represented the "victorious and enduring revolutionary alliance" by unifying the hammer (i.e. workers) and the sickle (i.e. peasants). The gold-bordered five-point star situated above the hammer and sickle was a representation of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.

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Hammer and sickle in the context of Sovietization

Sovietization (Russian: советизация, romanizedsovyetizatsiya [səvʲɪtʲɪˈzat͡sɨjə]) is the adoption of a political system based on the model of soviets (workers' councils) or the adoption of a way of life, mentality, and culture modeled after the Soviet Union.

A notable wave of Sovietization (in the second meaning) occurred during the Russian Civil War in the territories captured by the Red Army. Later, the territories occupied by the Russian SFSR and the USSR were Sovietized. Mongolia was conquered by the Soviet Union and Sovietized in the 1920s, and after the end of the Second World War, Sovietization took place in the countries of the Soviet Bloc (Eastern and Central Europe: Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Hungary, Poland, the Baltic states, etc.). In a broad sense, it included the creation of Soviet-style authorities, new elections held by Bolshevik party members with opposition parties being restricted, the nationalization of private land and property, and the repression against representatives of "class enemies" (kulaks, or osadniks, for instance). Mass executions and imprisoning in Gulag labor camps and exile settlements often accompany that process. This was usually promoted and sped up by propaganda aimed at creating a common way of life in all states within the Soviet sphere of influence. In modern history, Sovietization refers to the copying of models of Soviet life (the cult of the leader's personality, collectivist ideology, mandatory participation in propaganda activities, etc.).

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