Fist and rose

The fist and rose, sometimes called the rose in the fist or fist with a rose, is an emblem used or formerly used by a number of socialist and social democratic parties around the world.

It depicts a rose, symbolizing the promises of a better life under a socialist government, and a clenched fist holding it, symbolizing the activist commitment and solidarity necessary to achieve it. The rose is displayed in the red colour associated with left-wing politics; recent variants display the leafs in green, reflecting the rise of environmental concerns. Its design involves political symbolism drawn from the history of socialism and social democracy, and also alluding to the counterculture of the 1960s.

The emblem was drawn in 1969 by the French graphic artist Marc Bonnet and became popular within the Socialist Party (PS), which made it its official logo in 1971. It was later used, with slight or large alterations and adaptations, by several parties elsewhere in Europe as well as in Africa, America, and Asia, although some have retired it since the end of the 20th century.^[1] In 1979, it was also taken up by the Socialist International (SI). It has often been chosen to provide an attractive visual alternative to the communist hammer and sickle, and to signal a party's affiliation to the SI and kinship with foreign left-wing parties.