More Info on Red FlagSimilar Undetermined MusicSearch Artistopia
Biography
About|the political symbolIn politics , a red flag is a symbol of Socialism , or Communism , or sometimes left-wing politics in general. It has been associated with left-wing politics since the French Revolution .Brink, Jan ten http://www.amazon.com/dp/1402138296 Robespierre and the Red Terror , 1899. Socialists adopted the symbol during the Revolutions of 1848 and it became a symbol of communism as a result of its use by the Paris Commune of 1871." http://revcom.us/a/045/story-red-flag.html Story of the Red Flag", Revolutionary Communist Party, USA|Revolution , 05-19-2006. Retrieved 12-02-2007. The flags of several communist state s, including flag of the People's Republic of China|China , Flag of Vietnam|Vietnam and the Soviet Union , are explicitly based on the original red flag. The red flag is also used as a symbol by some democratic socialism|democratic socialists and social democracy|social democrats , for example the Awami National Party|Avami National Party (Pakistan), Socialist Party of France|French Socialist Party and the Social Democratic Party of Germany . The Labour Party (UK)|Labour Party in United Kingdom|Britain used it until the late 1980s. It was the inspiration for the socialist anthem, The Red Flag (song)|The Red Flag .
History
In the Middle Ages, ships in combat flew a long red streamer, called the Baucans, to signify a fight to the death. Flags of the World , " http://www.crwflags.com/fotw/flags/vxt-dvb2.html#baucens Baucans (or Bauccedillian)". In one petition, a group of English sailors asserted that the Crown had no right to a share of the prize money earned from a Norman ship captured in 1293 because it had raised the Baucans.Marsden, R.G., "Early Prize Jurisdiction and Prize Law in England" (1909) Perrin, W.G. British Flags: Their Early History and Their Development at Sea; with an Account of the Origin of the Flag as a National Device (1922) p, 161. (Raising this streamer may have been a relatively novel practice at this time, since the writers feel the need to explain it.) By the 17th century, the Baucans had evolved into a red flag, or "flag of defiance." 1602 Dekker Satirom. Wks. 1873 I. 233 What, dost summon a parlie, my little Drumsticke? tis too late: thou seest my red flag is hung out. 1666 Lond. Gaz. No. 91/4 That the Red Flag was out, both Fleets in sight of each other, expecting every hour fit weather to Engage. Flags of the World , " http://www.crwflags.com/fotw/flags/vxt-dvf3.html#flagofdefiance Flag of Defiance." It was raised in cities and castles under siege to indicate that they would not surrender."so the red flag of defiance was pulled down", Grant, James, '' http://www.oldandnewedinburgh.co.uk/volume1/page60.html Cassell's Old and New Edinburgh , Vol. 1, (1882) p. 49. "The red flag is a signal of defiance and battle," according to Chambers Cyclopedia (1727–41).Cited in "red flag," Oxford English Dictionary.
The red cap was a symbol of popular revolt in France going back to the Jacquerie of 1358. The color red become associated with patriotism early in the French Revolution due to the popularity of the Tricolour cockade, introduced in July 1789, and the Phrygian cap , introduced in May 1790. A red flag was raised over the Champ-de-Mars in Paris on July 17, 1791 by Gilbert du Motier, marquis de Lafayette|Lafayette , commander of the National Guard, as a symbol of martial law, warning rioters to disperse. Thomas Carlyle , http://dickens.stanford.edu/archive/tale/print_issue10_gloss.html French Revolution , p. 408. As many as fifty anti-royalist protesters were killed in the fighting that followed. Oddly inverting the original symbolism, the Jacobin Club|Jacobins protested this action by flying a red flag to honor the "martyrs' blood" of those who had been killed. Flags of the World , " http://www.crwflags.com/FOTW/flags/fr_revol.html#red French Revolution" The Jacobin Club ruled France during the Reign of Terror (1793–1794) and made the red flag an unofficial national emblem. However, the earlier Tricolor never lost its official status and regained popularity under Napoleon .
British sailors Nore mutiny|mutinied near the mouth of the River Thames in 1797 and hoisted a red flag on several ships. Two red flags flown by marchers during the Merthyr Tydfil|Merthyr riots of 1831 in South Wales were soaked in calf's blood.Saunders, Bob, " http://libcom.org/library/1831-merthyr-tydfil-uprising The Merthyr Rising 1831" The red flags of Merthyr became a potent relic following the execution of early trade unionist Dic Penderyn (Richard Lewis) in August 1831 despite a public campaign to pardon him.
During the Mexican siege of the Alamo in March 1836, General Antonio Lopez de Santa Ana displayed a plain red flag (approx. 10 feet square) from the highest church tower in Bejar. The meaning of this flag was not socialism: its meaning - directed to the Alamo defenders - meant "no surrender; no clemency." citation needed|date=July 2011 At much the same time, the Liberal "Colorados" in the Uruguayan Civil War used red flags. This prolonged struggle at the time got considerable attention and sympathy from Liberals and revolutionaries in Europe and it was in this war that Garibaldi first made a name for himself and that he was inspired to have his troops wear the famous Redshirts (Italy)|Red Shirts .
During the Revolution of 1848 in France|1848 Revolution in France , Socialists and radical republicans demanded that the red flag be adopted as France's national flag. Led by poet-politician Alphonse de Lamartine , the government rejected the crowd's demand: "The red flag that you have brought back here has done nothing but being trailed around the Champ-de-Mars in the people's blood in 1791 and 1793, whereas the Tricolore flag went round the world along with the name, the glory and the liberty of the homeland!" Flags of the World , " http://www.crwflags.com/FOTW/flags/fr_secdr.html France"
The banner of the Paris Commune of 1871 was red and it was at this time that the red flag became a symbol of communism. The flag was flown at a May Day rally for an eight-hour workday in Chicago in 1886. A bomb blast killed a policeman and the Haymarket Affair|Haymarket Eight were arrested and five were executed. This event, considered the beginning of the international labor movement, is still commemorated annually in many countries (although not in the U.S.) The red flag gained great popularity during the Russian Revolution (1917)|Russian Revolution of 1917. Flags of the World , " http://www.crwflags.com/FOTW/flags/su.html Soviet" The Soviet flag, with a hammer, a sickle and a star on a red background, was adopted in 1923. Various Communist and socialist newspapers have used the name The Red Flag. In China , both the Kuomintang|Nationalist Party -led Republic of China and the Communist Party of China|Communist Party -led People's Republic of China use a red field for their flags, a reference to their revolutionary origins.Citation needed|date=August 2009 In more recent times, social democracy|social democratic parties have gravitated away from the Red Flag as a symbol.Citation needed|date=August 2009 However, several European parties retain a "red square" symbol, including Germany's Social Democratic Party of Germany|SPD and the Party of European Socialists . The building to have had a red flag flying for the longest period of time and to still have one is the Victorian Trades Hall in Melbourne, Australia. The flag has been flying for over a century.
The British Labour Party
The red flag was the emblem of the Labour Party (UK)|British Labour Party from its inception until the Labour Party Conference of 1986 when it was replaced by a red rose , itself a variant of the "Fist and Rose" then in wide use by left of center parties in Europe. The more floral red rose design has subsequently been adopted by a number of other socialist and social-democratic parties throughout Europe. Members of the party also sing the traditional anthem The Red Flag (song)|The Red Flag at the conclusion of the annual party conference. In February 2006 the Red Flag was sung in Parliament to mark the centenary of the Labour Party's founding. The flag was regularly flown above Sheffield Town Hall on May Day under David Blunkett 's Labour Party (UK)|Labour administration of Sheffield during the 1980s, leading to Sheffield being labelled the People's Republic of South Yorkshire .
Laws to ban red flags
During the First Red Scare|Red Scare of 1919-20 in the United States, many states passed laws forbidding the display of red flags, including Minnesota , South Dakota , Oklahoma ,Zechariah Chafee, Jr., Freedom of Speech (NY: Harcourt, Brace and Howe, 1920), 180ff., Appendix V and California . In Stromberg v. California , the United States Supreme Court held that such laws are unconstitutional. Stromberg v. California , 283 U.S. 359 (1931). The current flag of Oklahoma dates to this period and was adopted because of the association of the Flag_of_Oklahoma#History|first flag of Oklahoma , a white star on a red background, with socialism.citation needed|date = June 2011
Communist/socialist Red Flag as name or title
It has been common to find streets, buildings, businesses and product brands named after the Red Flag in nominally socialist countries. For example, a famous line of limousine cars manufactured by China FAW Group Corporation has the brand name of FAW Hongqi|Red Flag .
See also
The Red Flag (song)
Red star
Hammer and sickle
Anarchist symbolism#Black flag|Black flag
Flag of the Soviet Union
Flag of the People's Republic of China
Flag of Vietnam
Red bloc
Communist symbolism
Eureka Flag
Racing flags#The red flag
References
reflist
External links
commons|Red flag
FOTW|id=qt-s_red|title=Red flag of Socialism
DEFAULTSORT:Red Flag Category:International flags Category:Socialism Category:Communism Category:Activism flags
