Red flag (politics)

In politics, a red flag is predominantly a symbol of left-wing ideologies, including socialism, communism, anarchism, and the labour movement. The originally empty or plain red flag has been associated with left-wing politics since the French Revolution (1789–1799).^[1] The red flag and red as a political color are the oldest symbols of socialism.

Socialists adopted the symbol during the Revolutions of 1848 and it was first used as the flag of a new authority by the Paris Commune of 1871. The flags of former Soviet Union introduced after the Russian Revolution and many other subsequent communist states are explicitly inspired by the plain red flag. Many socialist and socialist-adjacent political parties, including those of democratic socialists and social democrats, have adapted and adopted a red flag as their symbol. The plain red flag was an official symbol of the Labour Party in the United Kingdom until the late 1980s. It was the inspiration for the socialist songs The Red Flag and Bandiera Rossa.

Prior to the French Revolution and in some contexts even today, red flags or banners were seen as a symbol of defiance and battle.^[2]