Created by Ivan Simakov (1877-1925), the Soviet poster from May Day 1921 is like a synthesis of Crane’s picture and the cover to Mother Earth.* The colours in Simakov’s image are bright and clear and dominated by red and green. The world tree has been cleaved into two; the one and only magnificent tree, an ash-tree perhaps, has been substituted by two common birches. Between these birches stand a male and a female peasant. In front of the sun they raise the hammer and the sickle. The sun is not rising; it is already high in the sky. The tree supports stabilize and signify order, but it is the sun – and industrial and agrarian labour – that is the guarantee for prosperity and happiness. The place for the incarnation of the non-place (u-topia) is apparently on Soviet soil.
* Reproducerade in David King (2009). Red star over Russia: a visual history of the Soviet Union from 1917 to the death of Stalin, p. 129.
I would like to draw attention to a detail on a medallion deigned by Sergey Chekhonin (Tchehonine), from 1918.* On Chekhonin’s work of art an able-bodied female and a ditto male are depicted. The female stands before a cropland. She is carrying a sickle and a spade and so represents farmers. The male stands before a factory. He is holding a sledgehammer in his right hand, thereby seems to represent (despite Chekhonin’s choice of a non-factory tool as symbol) industrial workers. Behind him, on the ground, rests a parcel, perhaps with goods from his workplace. In his left hand – and it is this detail I found surprising – he carries a 
From the late 19th and early 20th century, we spot the caduceus – or Mercury himself, or symbols associated with him (especially his winged helmet) – on trade union banners and emblems. In Sweden and Denmark – and certainly in the countries that harboured workers’ movements that influenced the culture of these small countries, Germany and Britain above all – the banners and emblems decorated with this symbolism belong to unions that organized personnel working in shops, offices and akin workplaces.** This is hardly surprising since Mercury (Hermes) famously is, among other things, the god of commerce.
I was surprised to find the topic “Soviet Swastika” being discussed on different pages on the Internet. 
The explanation is not shared fondness for totalitarianism, but the fact that the insignia was designed for Kalmyks fighting in the Red army. The Kalmyks are Buddhists and the swastika a well-known emblem for that creed. Thus, the explanation is some kind of Bolshevik tolerance, rather than totalitarianism.
Having Google-translated three Russian texts that Roland Boer (
The red star of communism is one of the most familiar signs in modern politics. Still, there seems to be surprisingly little known about its origin. Like everything else that we encounter repeatedly, and has been present already from our childhood, the red star of communism appears palpable. But on reflection, this choice of symbol is of course far from evident: why on earth do a star painted red symbolise the movement that aim to abolish class societies?! During the last year, I have taken every opportunity to ask historians, even specialists in the history of socialism, if they knew the answer to this enigma, but they have left me empty-handed.
In 1908, Alexander Bogdanov published 
(Nota bene, that the red star on this newyear postcard is, for some reason, a pentagon.)
Socialist heraldic designs, the earliest examples going back to late 19th century organizations and fraternities, display a fascinating mixture of observance to established rules of heraldry and consciously rebellion against these rules. Beside is an emblem painted by Walter Crane for “The World Order of Socialists”, a fraternity/trade union I believe only existed in his mind.* The heraldic shield is substituted for the rose, which at the same time functions as a kind of mantling. The handshake, typical for trade union iconography, stretches over the entire globe, divided in rational quadrangles. The sun is rising.
Finally, most experimental and rebellious, is the coat of arms for a Hungarian city, designed in the 1970s.*** Op art goes commie.
Heart in a Heartless World 