The Red Flag of Proletarian Revolution
On every continent on Planet Earth, the Red Flag has come to represent the revolutionary struggle of the proletariat to liberate all of humanity. It first was carried by the slaves in Rome who rose in revolt and became the banner of revolution down through the ages.

Revolution #47, May 21, 2006

Red Flag Vs. American Flag

Two Very Different Histories—Two Very Different Futures

The Red Flag of Proletarian Revolution
On every continent on Planet Earth, the Red Flag has come to represent the revolutionary struggle of the proletariat to liberate all of humanity. It first was carried by the slaves in Rome who rose in revolt and became the banner of revolution down through the ages.

The Paris Commune of 1871. For the first time in history, the working class rose up and seized power. And the Red Flag soared for the first time as a symbol of not just rebellion and revolution, but of a new proletarian state—a radically different kind of state, one to serve a transition to a society without classes and, eventually, without states. After 70 days, the Commune was crushed and the bourgeoisie took its revenge, killing tens of thousands. But a new point of departure for the future had been forged.

The Red Flag was carried into battle when the masses rose up in Russia in 1917. Led by V.I. Lenin and the Bolshevik Party, the proletariat overthrew the Tsarist Regime, established a new revolutionary government, and began building a new socialist society. Millions of people around the world looked with hope and pride at the unprecedented revolutionary changes that became possible under proletarian rule. Land to the tiller. Liberating new policies toward minority nationalities. The uprooting of women's oppression. And for the first time, a planned economy geared toward meeting the needs of the people. But the forces of the old order at that point proved too strong, and proletarian rule in the Soviet Union was overthrown in 1956.

In China, Mao Tsetung led the masses of people to make revolution and seize power in 1949. The Red Flag flew victorious over a new socialist society where the rule of profit and exploitation was ended and basic social needs were met. Social and economic divisions and inequalities were broken down and the masses of people in their millions participated in the struggle to transform society and themselves. The Red Flag flew still higher in 1966, with the beginning of the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, a “revolution within the revolution