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Republic of Macedonia (Socialist Yugoslavia)

Flag of Socialist Macedonia - Image by Željko Heimer, 14 July 2006

Flag of Socialist Macedonia
Variants of the flag
Coat of arms of Socialist Macedonia

See also:

Flag of Socialist Macedonia

Macedonia (People's Republic of, Narodna Republika Makedonija, until 1963; then Socialist Republic, Socijalistička Republika Makedonija until 1991) used a red flag with a yellow outlined star in canton. The size of the star varied. Officially it was much smaller than the stars on the flags of the other Republics, but usually - when displayed together with the rest of them - was enlarged to that size. Sometimes the star was put in the middle, but that was wrong.
This flag was adopted on 31 December 1946, and superseded by the Vergina sun flag in 1992.

Željko Heimer, 1 April 1996

According to the words of my grandfather and grandmother, my uncle and two of my aunties, who all were partisans, that flag was in use during the Second World War, long before it was officialy adopted in 1946. Red has been the Macedonian colour since the antiquity, and the star has always been a symbol used in Macedonia. According that period, the star was five-pointed. Photos from the ASNOM on 2 August 1944 also show the Macedonian flag, flown together with the flags of Yugoslavia, USA, USSR, Great Britain and France.

Valentin Poposki, 7 March 2006

In August 1903, during the Ilinden Uprising, a plain red flag was hoisted in the liberated town of Kruševo. That was done at the initiative of Nikola Karev, a leader of the uprising and the chief organizer of the provisional administration of the Republic of Kruševo, who was a Socialist activist. The red flag, originally a symbol of Socialism and revolution, thus also became the Macedonian national symbol. This was probably helped with the fact that the coat of arms usually attributed to Macedonia has had the red field, with the golden lion upon it.

In 1946, the Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia adopted the flag with the red field, in memory of the Ilinden Uprising and the Republic of Kruševo. As an independent country, Macedonia has kept the red as the field colour of its flag to this day. Red is also the field colour of many political flags in Macedonia, regardless of the users' political attitudes, being used there as the national symbol.

Tomislav Todorović, 9 March 2006

Variants of the flag

Variant of the flag - Image by Željko Heimer, 14 July 2006

A flag with the star of the same shape as on the other Yugoslav flags of the period was used relatively frequently.

Later variant of the flag - Image by Željko Heimer, 14 July 2006

The flag shown on the postage stamps released in 1980 has a larger star. This 1980 Yugoslav post stamp series shows the flags of all the Republics, in the style of the famous UN flag series. This series shows errorneaus images of all the other flags.

Željko Heimer, 14 July 2006

As far as I can remember, the so-called fat star was used mostly in political flags (Communist party, workers' unions, pioneers etc.). The thinner star was used in the 1940s and early 1950s, without regulation and probably just a popular style by the flag manufacturers. The "post stamp" star has been popular since 1960s-1980s. It was considered maybe as "modern".

Valentin Poposki, 7 March 2006

Coat of arms of Socialist Macedonia

Coat of arms of Socialist Macedonia - Image by Željko Heimer, 4 October 2004, adapted from the WIPO IPDL database

The coat of arms of Socialist Macedonia is prescribed by Act on the Coat of Arms of the People's Republic of Macedonia, adopted by the People's Assembly of the People's Republic of Macedonia on its second extraordinary session held on July 27, 1946, later on altered by Article 8 of the Constitution of the Socialist Republic of Macedonia, as follows:

The coat of arms is framed by a garland of ears of wheat, tobacco and poppy, tied by a ribbon with the pattern of a traditional costume. In the centre of such a circular space there are mountains, rivers, lakes and the sun; where the ears join there is a red five-pointed star. All this represents "the richness of our country, the struggle and the freedom".

This coat of arms is retained was as the coat of arms of the Republic of Macedonia after independence and is still in use.

Željko Heimer, 14 July 2006