While the hammer and sickle may have roots in the USSR, I think it's more likely inferred individuals and labor movements worldwide appropriate it for the symbolism around labor rather than anything ideological around a government. We aren't taught shit about the USSR in the US beyond "communist government bad," so I had to Google the origins of it just now myself. I associated it with communism as a whole, which is often conflated with the USSR, but I wouldn't personally assume someone with it tattooed is giving explicit signal toward support of the old regime in the way a swastika signals a nazi (maybe they are, but I'd ask first, whereas with the swastika I will absolutely assume). Especially given how many variations there are these days. The religious swastika is also has distinct differences - flipped to a mirror image with dots around it. I'm partial myself to the romcom style where the sickle is shaped more like a heart, personally, though I'm not out here looking to get it tattooed. I only know enough to say communism is an economic system opposed to capitalism in the same way a democratic government is opposed (or should be) to authoritarianism. Workers of the world unite, something something, we have nothing to lose but our chains 🛠️❤️

The hammer and sickle are sometimes used by more than just MLs and Sov apologists. But there's definitely... discourse around it.