<P> The combination of hammer and sickle symbolised the combination of farmers and construction workers . One example of use prior to its political instrumentalisation by the Soviet Union is found in Chilean currency circulating since 1895 . </P> <P> An alternative example is the combination of a hammer and a plough, with the same meaning (unity of peasants and workers). In Ireland, the symbol of the plough remains in use . The Starry Plough banner was originally used by the Irish Citizen Army, a socialist republican workers' militia . James Connolly, co-founder of the Irish Citizen Army with Jack White, said the significance of the banner was that a free Ireland would control its own destiny from the plough to the stars . A sword is forged into the plough to symbolise the end of war with the establishment of a Socialist International . This was unveiled in 1914 and flown by the Irish Citizen Army during the 1916 Easter Rising . </P> <P> In 1917, Vladimir Lenin and Anatoly Lunacharsky held a competition to create a Soviet emblem . The winning design was a hammer and sickle on top of a globe in rays of the sun, surrounded by a wreath of grain and under a five - pointed star, with the inscription "proletariats of the world, unite!" in six languages (Russian, Ukrainian, Belarusian, Georgian, Armenian and Azerbaijani). It originally featured a sword, but Lenin strongly objected, disliking the violent connotations . The winning designer was Yevgeny Ivanovich Kamzolkin (1885--1957). </P> <P> On 6 July 1923, the 2nd session of the Central Executive Committee (CIK) adopted this emblem . </P>

Who came up with the hammer and sickle