The hammer and the sickle
An old revolutionary symbol. Symbolizes the common struggle and unity of the industrial workers(the hammer) and the farmers/peasants(the sickle), the two groups which produces surplus value. Was used already during the Russian Revolution in 1917 and became the national emblem of the Soviet Union. It later became the international symbol of communism.
There are several variations of the symbol, for example:
In DDR a hammer and a pair of compasses, was used as national emblem. The pair of compasses symbolized the engineers and the academics.
In North Korea a combined hammer, sickle and spear is commonly used. The spear symbolizes the soldiers.
Another variation is a cog-wheel and wreath of wheat. The cog-wheel symbolizes the workers, the urban proletariat and the wreath symolizes the farmers/peasants. Here is the symbol of the Communist Party of Canada. Variations of this variation appears in for example the flags of Angola(cog-wheel and machete, a local farmers' tool) and Burma(cog-wheel and ears of rice). The symbol of the cog-wheel and the wreath is sometimes also used by nazi groups, such as Nationaler Offensive in Germany and Frihetliga UnionsPartiet in Sweden.
Picture Archive:Hammers and Sickles
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