Flag of the Soviet Union statute on the flag was adopted which resulted in a change of the hammer's handle length and the shape of the sickle. A final modification to the flag was adopted in 1980 in which the colour was brightened to a lighter shade of red. The flag continued to be the official national flag until the dissolution of the Soviet Union. Its imagery is now the basis for the flags of many communist parties: a yellow hammer and sickle on a red background. The flag of the Soviet Union consisted of a plain red flag with a gold hammer crossed with
Flag of Finland a red background. Another entry had diagonal blue and white stripes, but it was criticized as being more suitable for a barber shop than a newly independent country. Akseli Gallen-Kallela proposed a similar cross flag, but with colors inverted (white cross on blue), but this was considered too similar to the Swedish flag and particularly the Greek flag of the time. Finally, artists Eero Snellman and Bruno Tuukkanen specified the final form of the flag. The state flag was further modified in 1922, when the coronet was removed, and again in 1978 when the shield-shaped coat of arms was changed