The penultimate USSR-era flag was adopted by the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (RSFSR) in 1954 and used until 1991.

The constitution stipulated: The state flag of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (SFSR) presents itself as a red, rectangular sheet with a light-blue stripe at the pole extending all the width [read height] which constitutes one eighth length of the flag.The symbol of the hammer and sickle represented the working class; more specifically, the hammer represented the urban industrial workers and the sickle represented the rural and agricultural peasants.

The blue stripe symbolized the wide Russian skies and the waters of its seas and rivers.

In the Russian SFSR, the chairman of the Secretary of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet Peter Bakhmurov [ru] opened the first meeting the next month to redesign the national flag.

His proposal was submitted to the Secretary of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR Alexander Gorkin in June 1948 and again to the Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the RSFSR Boris Chernousov in December 1949, but was not approved.

[7] The banner of the republic was a 1:1 ratio red flag with gold fringe, commonly used in ceremonies.