Waving a Red Flag March 08, 2006 at 08:29:36 America
Two days ago gottlieb posted a diary that twice referred to a red flag. Once to say that we were mezmerized by red carpets but couldn't see a red flag and then to say that America needed a big red flag that had nothing to do with 9/11.
Of course gottlieb is referring to one kind of red flag. The kind you see in the hands of a construction worker who is giving you that slow-down hand motion or the bandana tied to lumber sticking out of a truck. In other words, the warning flag. But there is another red flag and when I read the diary I thought "what if you waved that red flag? Would people respond?

Of course they would and it would be totally negative. Because they would associate it with big "C" communism and the capitalist revolutions in peasant countries that dominated the 20th century. Those'd be the red flags that were co-opted by one-party dictatorships and had various national symbols (hammers, sickles, stars) attached.
But the Red Flag I'm talking about is a simple field of red. I don't know its complete history but I know it is the worker's flag and as such has no connection to a particular nation. You can't get "patriotic" about it. The symbolism is pretty obvious -- it stands for the blood that is the same in all of us and is shed to benefit others mostly. It certainly predates the Bolshevik revolution and I believe it was being used before "The Communist Manifesto" (if I'm wrong I know someone will correct me).
I haven't seen it flying in a very long time. In the mid-70s I went to some Mayday celebrations at Union Square and there were lots of red flags and pretty good speeches if I remember. But since then not so much. I read last night that during WWI, 33 states had made it illegal to posess or display a red (or black--anarchist) flag!! What a powerful symbol! When the state has to ban a flag you know it's a dangerous thing.
I would be legal in those states because I don't own or display a red flag. I do however, own a couple of red bandanas, not the cowboy kind but a plain field of red. And come to think of it I've got some dowels and a staple gun downstairs, guess I could whip up a red flag if'n I needed one. But don't tell nobody, ok?
But why would I ever need one? Well here's my reasoning. We actually don't know that much about worker's revolutions in advanced capitalist nations. But we do know that such revolutions happen spontaeneously. The little groups that you see at demonstrations that get some people so upset will be totally sidelined in any real action. At some point the workers will get fed up with the way things are going and all hell will break loose and I'll need a red flag that day -- maybe two.
Because that is what the red flag stands for. The workers' movement. Not a higher minimum wage and better benefits but a system wherein we work to make life better for each other rather than to enrich some plutocrat. The red flag stands not for the piecemeal reform of capitalism but for getting rid of the whole schlamazel. We are told constantly that this is utopian but the red flag sez "look how far we've come" and "of course they would say it's utopian -- you're plotting to get rid of their priviliged positions."
To me, the Red Flag calls up a vision of a society where rich people are not able to hire other people and dictate to them what is going to be done. Where things are accomplished because they are the right things to do not because they will enrich somebody. Where levees are built where they are needed. And it reminds me of an important thing that Marx said to the effect that emancipation of the working class has to done by the working class itself.
So, would people respond to that Red Flag? I don't think the time is right but I do think that talk about class and capitalism and democracy -- real democracy, is called for.
A great Irish Socialist, James Connell, wrote a song about this Red Flag, Billy Bragg has recorded it with a much livlier arrangement.
The Red Flag LyricsThe workers' flag is deepest redIt shrouded oft our martyred deadAnd ere their limbs grew stiff and coldTheir hearts' blood dyed to every fold
Chorus:Then raise the scarlet standard highBeneath its folds we'll live and dieThough cowards flinch and traitors sneerWe'll keep the red flag flying here
It waved above our infant mightWhen all ahead seemed dark as nightIt witnessed many a deed and vowWe must not change its colour now
Chorus
It well recalls the triumphs pastIt gives the hope of peace at lastThe banner bright, the symbol plainOf human right and human gain
Chorus
It suits today the meek and baseWhose minds are fixed on pelf and placeTo cringe beneath the rich man's frownAnd haul that sacred emblem down
Chorus
With heads uncovered swear we allTo bare it onward till we fallCome dungeons dark or gallows grimThis song shall be our parting hymn
Chorus
Words: Jim Connell
In the end I'm not much of a flag person but a workers' flag does have some attraction to me. And maybe it is something of a warning flag as well. A warning to capitalists that people may not choose to live this way forever.