The central feature of the emblem is the crossed hammer and sickle, the universal Communist symbol signifying the unity of the worker and the peasant.

At the base of the emblem, the letters БССР (BSSR) appear, shorthand for the full name of the republic, Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic (Беларуская Савецкая Сацыялістычная Рэспубліка Bielaruskaja Savieckaja Sacyjalistyčnaja Respublika), shown only once, since it reads the same in both Russian and Belarusian.

On each side of the ribbon, the USSR State motto (Workers of the world, unite!)

The earliest version also had the text in Yiddish (!פּראָלעטאַריער פֿון אַלע לענדער, פֿאַרײניקט זיך) and Polish (Proletariusze wszystkich krajów, łączcie się!).

This changed under the presidency of Alexander Lukashenko after a controversial 1995 referendum in which the basic Soviet design was reintroduced with the outline map of Belarus replacing the hammer and sickle.