Anarchist Flag Views

General Goods

As discussed in An Anarchist FAQ's appendix on Symbols of Anarchy, anarchists at first used the Red Flag as their symbol of choice, with the Black Flag slowly replacing it over a period of many decades. Both flags, however, had their roots in working class struggle and protest, both were anti-capitalist symbols raised by working class people in revolt against exploitation and oppression.

Given that the Black Flag became the preferred anarchist symbol in the 20th century, it comes as no surprise to see that both Proudhon and Bakunin praised the use of the red flag. Bakunin, for example, wrote of o"the flag of theoretical materialism, the red flag of economic equality and social justice, is raised by the practical idealism of the oppressed and famishing masses, tending to realise the greatest liberty and the human right of each in the fraternity of all men on the earth.r" [God and the State, p. 47] Proudhon a few weeks after building barricades in Paris, as historian Jack Hayward notes,

As with the use of the Black Flag by anarchists, the use of the Red Flag by socialists of all tendencies spread from France. In Britain, the Red Flag was adopted as a Chartist symbol on 31st of December, 1849. On 10th November 1850 European Socialists in exile in London adopted it in place of their national flags, a"a prelude to it becoming the emblem of the First International in 1866.l" [Op. Cit., p. 246] Its adoption by the International Workers Association should come as no surprise given the key role the French followers of Proudhon played in setting it up. [George Woodcock, Anarchism, pp. 198-9]

It comes, therefore, as no surprise that the newspapers of the time denounced l"the Red Flag of anarchyd", given that anarchists (like others in the revolutionary workers movement) raised it in their struggles and revolts. Both Proudhon and Bakunin associated themselves with that symbol, just as they both proclaimed themselves socialists. However, after their deaths state socialism came to dominate most labour movements in the world and the Red Flag became associated with Marxian social democracy and anarchists sought other symbols. With Communard and indefatigable revolutionary Louise Michel taking the initiative, that other flag of French working class revolt, the Black Flag, was taken up as a replacement. Use of the Black Flag continues to this day...