Red flag (politics)
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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In politics, a red flag is predominantly a symbol of socialism, communism, Marxism, trade unions, left-wing politics, and historically of anarchism. It has been associated with left-wing politics since the French Revolution (1789–1799).
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. The flags of several socialist states, including China, Vietnam and former Soviet Union, Khmer Rouge, are explicitly based on the original red flag. The red flag is also used as a symbol by some democratic socialists and social democrats, for example the League of Social Democrats of Hong Kong, the French Socialist Party and the Social Democratic Party of Germany. The Labour Party in Britain used it until the late 1980s. It was the inspiration for the socialist anthem, The Red Flag.
Prior to the French Revolution and in some contexts even today, red flags or banners were not associated with socialism, communism, or anarchism, but were seen as a symbol of defiance and battle.
See also
- Bandiera Rossa
- Black flag (Template:Big)
- Communist symbolism
- Flag of Albania
- Flag of Belarus
- Flag of China
- Flag of Hong Kong
- Flag of Kyrgyzstan
- Flag of North Macedonia
- Flag of the Soviet Union
- Flag of Vietnam
- Green flag
- Hammer and sickle (☭)
- The Red Flag
- Red flag in racing
- Red flag warning
- Red star (★)
- The Standard of Revolt
- White flag