Editing Anthem (section)

====Soviet Union====
{{Main|Anthems of the Soviet Republics}}

Fourteen of the fifteen [[republics of the Soviet Union|constituent states of the Soviet Union]] had their own official song which was used at events connected to that region, and also written and sung in that region's own language. The [[Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic]] used the Soviet Union's national anthem as its regional anthem ("[[The Internationale]]" from 1917 to 1944 and the "[[National Anthem of the Soviet Union]]" from 1944 to 1990) until 1990, the last of the Soviet constituent states to do so. After the Soviet Union disbanded in the early 1990s, some of its former constituent states, now sovereign nations in their own right, retained the melodies of their old Soviet-era regional anthems until replacing them or, in some cases, still use them today.

Unlike most national anthems, few of which were composed by renowned composers, the Soviet Union's various regional anthems were composed by some of the best Soviet composers, including world-renowned [[Gustav Ernesaks]] (Estonia), [[Aram Khachaturian]] (Armenia), [[Otar Taktakishvili]] (Georgia), and [[Uzeyir Hajibeyov]] (Azerbaijan).

The lyrics present great similarities, all having mentions to [[Vladimir Lenin]] (and most, in their initial versions, to [[Joseph Stalin]], the Armenian and Uzbek anthems being exceptions), to the guiding role of the [[Communist Party of the Soviet Union]], and to the brotherhood of the Soviet peoples, including a specific reference to the friendship of the [[Russians|Russian]] people (the Estonian, Georgian and Karelo-Finnish anthems were apparently an exception to this last rule).

Some of the Soviet regional anthems' melodies can be sung in the [[State Anthem of the Soviet Union#Lyrics|Soviet Union anthem lyrics]] (Ukrainian and Belarus are the most fitted in this case).

Most of these regional anthems were replaced with new national ones during or after the [[dissolution of the Soviet Union]]; [[National anthem of Belarus|Belarus]], [[National anthem of Kazakhstan|Kazakhstan]] (until 2006), [[National anthem of Tajikistan|Tajikistan]], [[National anthem of Turkmenistan|Turkmenistan]] (until 1997), and [[National anthem of Uzbekistan|Uzbekistan]] kept the melodies, but with different lyrics. [[Russia]] itself had abandoned the Soviet hymn, replacing it with [[Patrioticheskaya Pesnya|a tune]] by [[Mikhail Glinka|Glinka]]. However, with [[Vladimir Putin]] coming to power, the old Soviet tune was restored, with [[National Anthem of Russia|new lyrics]] written to it.

Like the [[hammer and sickle]] and [[red star]], the public performance of the anthems of the Soviet Union's various regional anthems the national anthem of the Soviet Union itself are considered as occupation symbols as well as symbols of [[totalitarianism]] and [[state terror]] by several countries formerly either members of or occupied by the [[Soviet Union]]. Accordingly, Latvia,<ref>{{cite web|title=BC, Riga, 16.05.2013|url=http://www.baltic-course.com/eng/legislation/&doc=74860|website=The Baltic course|access-date=3 August 2014}}</ref> Lithuania,<ref>{{cite news| url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/low/europe/7459976.stm | work=BBC News | title=Lithuanian ban on Soviet symbols | date=17 June 2008 | access-date=22 May 2010}}</ref> Hungary,<ref>Hungarian Criminal Code 269/B.§ (1993) “(1) A person who (a) disseminates, (b) uses in public or (c) exhibits a swastika, an SS-badge, an arrow-cross, a symbol of the sickle and hammer or a red star, or a symbol depicting any of them, commits a misdemeanor—unless a more serious crime is committed—and shall be sentenced to a criminal fine (''pénzbüntetés'').”</ref> and [[Decommunization in Ukraine|Ukraine]]<ref>{{citation|url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/ukraine-bans-soviet-era-symbols-1428606171 | title=Ukraine Bans Soviet-Era Symbols}}</ref><ref>{{citation|url=http://www.memory.gov.ua/laws/law-ukraine-condemnation-communist-and-national-socialist-nazi-regimes-and-prohibition-propagan | title=LAW OF UKRAINE. On the condemnation of the communist and national socialist (Nazi) regimes, and prohibition of propaganda of their symbols}}</ref><ref>[http://zakon4.rada.gov.ua/laws/show/317-viii ЗАКОН УКРАЇНИ Про засудження комуністичного та націонал-соціалістичного (нацистського) тоталітарних режимів в Україні та заборону пропаганди їхньої символіки] ''tr. The Law of Ukraine About the popularization of the communal and national-social (Nazi) totalitarian regimes in Ukraine and the propagation of its symbols'' ''zakon4.rada.gov.ua'', accessed 8 October 2020</ref> have banned those anthems amongst other things deemed to be symbols of fascism, socialism, communism, and the Soviet Union and its republics. In [[Poland]], dissemination of items which are “media of fascist, communist, or other totalitarian symbolism” was criminalized in 1997. However, in 2011 the [[Constitutional Tribunal (Poland)|Constitutional Tribunal]] found this sanction to be unconstitutional.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://trybunal.gov.pl/rozprawy/komunikaty-prasowe/komunikaty-po/art/2628-nowelizacja-kodeksu-karnego/s/k-1110/|title=Nowelizacja kodeksu karnego.|language=pl|date=2011-07-19|access-date=2015-04-08}}</ref> In contrast to this treatment of the ''symbolism'', promotion of fascist, communist and other totalitarian ''ideology'' remains illegal. Those laws do not apply to the anthems of [[Russia]], [[Belarus]], [[Uzbekistan]], [[Kazakhstan]], and [[Tajikistan]] which used the melody with different lyrics.