National anthem of Soviet Union (USSR)
It is OUR anthem!
Hammer and Sickle Banner (The Red Banner)
Государственный гимн СССР

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The anthem's music was originally composed by Alexander Alexandrov around 1938 for the Hymn of the Bolshevik Party. The opening bars of this song were sampled from one of Alexandrov's previous pieces, "Life Has Become Better", which was based on a quote by former Soviet Union General Secretary Joseph Stalin at the First All-Union Meeting of the Stakhanovites on November 17, 1935.The song alludes to Stalin's cult of personality.

Other than "Life Has Become Better", the music of the anthem has several possible outside influences. Alexandrov himself has described it as the combination of a march with Russian traditional music, particularly that of bylina epic songs. The anthem shares several chord progressions with Vasily Kalinnikov's overture Bylina, Epic Poem (which, as its name indicates, is also inspired by the bylina tradition). There also exist similarities between Alexandrov's anthem and Robert Schumann's Frühlingsfahrt.

When the Communist International (Comintern) was dissolved in 1943 in order for the Soviet Union to maintain its alliance with the other Allies of World War II, a new composition was needed to replace "The Internationale" as the national anthem. A contest was held in mid to late 1943 for a new anthem, and more than 200 entries were submitted. Alexandrov's music was personally chosen by Stalin, who both praised and criticized it. The anthem's lyrics then had to be written. Stalin thought the song should be short, and that it should invoke the Red Army's impending victory over the forces of Germany on the Eastern Front. The poets Sergey Mikhalkov and Gabriel El-Registan were chosen by Stalin's staffers, called to Moscow, and given the task of writing lyrics which referenced not only the Great Patriotic War, but also "a Country of Soviets". The first draft was completed overnight.

The anthem was first published on 7 November 1943. It was played for the first time on Soviet radio at midnight on 1 January 1944, and officially adopted on 15 March the same year.[8] The new lyrics had three refrains following three different stanzas. In each refrain, the second line was modified to refer to friendship, then happiness, then glory. Joseph Stalin and the Soviet Union's war against Germany were originally invoked in the second and third verses, respectively. Reportedly, Stalin was opposed to including his name in the lyrics but relented after some Politburo members insisted.


The State Flag of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (Russian: Госуда́рственный флаг Сою́за Сове́тских Социалисти́ческих Респу́блик, tr. Gosudárstvenny flag Soyúza Sovétskikh Sotsialistícheskikh Respúblik); commonly known as the Soviet flag (Russian: Сове́тский флаг, tr. Sovétsky flag) was the official national flag of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) 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 nicknames for the flag were The Hammer and Sickle and The Red Banner.

(Wikipedia)