The letters USSR and their Russian language counterpart, CCCP, stand for Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, inaugurated after the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution led by Vladimir Lenin, pictured at upper right. A revolutionary dissident against the Czarist government from the mid 1890's, Lenin's radical Marxist political theories finally found sympathetic ears and willing followers as the Bolsheviks (radial Marxists) took control of Russia. Lenin was the initial architect and dominating personality of the Soviet regime, until he died in 1924. The hammer and sickle at the top center (on globe) was adopted by the Communists as a symbol of the Soviet state, representing the industrial workers (hammer) and the peasant farmers (sickle). That symbol is reversed on the large red star at bottom center. The red ribbon underneath the globe carries the inscription, "Workers of the World Unite".

Szyk has not ignored pre-Communist Russia. Interestingly, the ornamental background surrounding the center "USSR" is presented in the traditional Byzantine decorative tradition in Russian art. It is often seen in decorative lacquering. The modernizer of Russia, Peter the Great (1682-1725) is given parallel significance to Lenin, at upper right. Peter, almost singlehandedly, brought (sometimes dragged) Russia into the mainstream of Western European life, culture, and politics. This included major and often successful military campaigns. He founded and built St. Petersburg, now Leningrad, the capital of Russia (1721-1918). The Kremlin, in Moscow, traditional center of political and cultural life of Russia is depicted at right center, indicating centuries of continuity in Russia, opposite to Magnitogorsk at left center, representing the modern industrial development of Russia.

The bottom panel of the miniature offers the viewer a characterization of essential military and economic elements in Russia. The sailor and soldier flank the worker and farmer who together with the priesthood, formed the primary elements of Russian life. The shock of wheat at the feet of the farmer is also prominent at top center as grains of wheat encircle the globe, symbolic of the traditional importance of grain to feed Russia.