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COMECON (1949-1991)

Council for Mutual Economic Assistance

Last modified: 2024-11-30 by zachary harden
Keywords: comecon | star: 5 points (red) | arrows: 5 | arrow (white) |
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COMECON
image by Sérgio Horta and António Martins, May 2000
See also:
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Presentation

COMECON means "Council for Mutual Economic Assistance"; it was formed by most of the Soviet-influenced countries.
Sérgio Horta, 27 May 2000

It was created in 1949, joining the Soviet Union, Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland, Rumania, Czechoslovakia, Mongolia, Cuba and Vietnam. East Germany and Albania joined in 1950, the latter leaving in 1961 and the former in 1990. Comecon was disbanded in 1991.
António Martins, 29 May 2000

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About the flag

The flag itself shows a quite interesting logo, with five arrows coming from the center back to the center again, meaning redistribution and “democratic centralism”. The number five has nothing to do with membership, just a way to show the red five pointed star of communism.
António Martins, 29 May 2000

This image is based on a image in the
Grolier International Encyclopedia
published in 1991.
Sérgio Horta, 27 May 2000

I’d bet that the Comecon flag was 1:2 and bright red, not 2:3 and dark red (like in the original Grolier International Encyclopedia image).
António Martins, 29 May 2000

COMECON
image by António Martins, 15 September 2024

A traced version of the flag [from here] was discussed in Wikimedia Commons, after it was declared to be «cheating like a fake news» (sic). Still, the emblem itself seems to be genuine enough to have been used on a contemporary Bulgarian postage stamp, as informed by user Crazymanball — a stamp with flags, soon at [b(-bg.html#04492]; see image https://i.colnect.net/b/4348/905/30th-Anniversary-of-COMECON-CMEA.jpg and archived at [ https://ghostarchive.org/archive/SZE93 ] (note the interesting errors!).
António Martins, 15 September 2024