Red star
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The five-pointed red star, a pentagram without the inner pentagon, is a symbol of communism as well as broader socialism in general. It is sometimes understood to represent the five fingers of the worker's hand, as well as the five continents. A lesser known suggestion is that the five points on the star were intended to represent the five social groups that would lead Russia to communism: the youth, the military, the industrial labourers, the agricultural workers or peasantry, and the intelligentsia. Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels used the red star as a symbol. It was also one of the emblems, symbols, and signals representing the Soviet Union under the rule and guidance of the Communist Party, along with the hammer and sickle. The star has since become a symbol representing socialism of all varieties.
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[edit] History
The five pointed star is an ancient symbol used in the mystical traditions of Middle Eastern religions (Judaism and Christianity) to represent the heretical idea that the sacred inheres in humanity[citation needed]. It was for this reason that Marx and Engels, as radical humanists, were attracted to the symbol. They made it red to signify the blood lost in struggle, and to show that all humans have the same blood (ancestry) regardless of race, sex, or class. However its origins in a mass political movement are found in the Russian civil war and the end of the First World War, though the creator (if any) is unknown. It is most often thought that Russian troops fleeing from the Austrian and German fronts found themselves in Moscow in 1917 and mixed with the local Moscow garrison. To distinguish the Moscow troops from the influx of retreating Russians the officers gave out tin stars to the Moscow garrison soldiers, to wear on their hats. When those troops joined the Red Army and the Bolsheviks they painted their tin stars red, the color of socialism, thus creating the original red star.[1] Another claimed origin for the red star relates to an alleged encounter between Leon Trotsky and Nikolai Krylenko. Krylenko, an Esperantist, was wearing a green star lapel badge; Trotsky enquired as to its meaning and received an explanation that each arm of the star represented one of the five traditional continents. On hearing this, he specified that a similar red star should be worn by soldiers of the Red Army.[2]
[edit] Wider use
Following its adoption as an emblem of the Soviet Union, the red star became a symbol for communism in a larger sense. The symbol became one of the most prominent of the Soviet Union, adorning all official buildings, awards and insignia. Sometimes the hammer and sickle was depicted inside or below the star. In 1930, the Order of the Red Star was established and given to Red Army and Soviet Navy personnel for "exceptional service in the cause of the defense of the Soviet Union in both war and peace." Its use quickly spread to other Communist states and organisations.
The red star was adopted by several Communist states and often placed on their respective flags and coats of arms; for example, on the flag of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. Separatist and socialist movements also sometimes adopted the red star, such as the Estelada flag in the Catalan countries.
As the red star spread to communism in the East, it was adapted: while some states kept the star as it was, some used a yellow star, particularly on a red field, with the same symbolism. The Far Eastern Republic used a yellow star on its military uniforms, and the flag of the People's Republic of China has five yellow stars on a red field. In Korea, however, the red star remained as it was.
[edit] Recent uses
The Russian military continues to use the Red Star to this day, and many former Soviet Union member nations still have it on military equipment and uniforms. The Russian military newspaper is also called the Red Star (Russian Krasnaya Zvezda). Several sporting clubs from countries ruled by Communist Parties used the red star as a symbol, and Crvena zvezda (Serbian: Црвена звезда), Belgrade, and Roter Stern, Leipzig, named themselves after it. Since the fall of the Soviet bloc, the red star has been banned in some countries (e.g. in Hungary, it is a criminal offense to publicly show or use the symbol).[3]
In 1970, the Rote Armee Fraktion or Red Army Faction (RAF) was officially founded. The RAF, which described itself as a communist "urban guerilla" group, it was postwar West Germany's most active and most popular left-wing terrorist organisation. Its highly recognisable symbol was a red star and a Heckler & Koch MP5. The RAF operated from the 1970s to 1998, committing numerous crimes, especially in the autumn of 1977, which led to a national crisis that became known as "German Autumn". It was responsible for 34 murders—including secondary targets such as chauffeurs and bodyguards—and many injuries in its almost 30 years of existence.
The red star was included in the flag of the Ejército Zapatista de Liberación Nacional (EZLN) or Zapatista Army of National Liberation upon their formation in 1994. The EZLN, an armed but nonviolent revolutionary group based in Chiapas, Mexico, takes its name from the Mexican revolutionary Emiliano Zapata and is most often represented by Subcomandante Marcos, though he is not their leader. The same flag, a black flag with a red star, was used by American revolutionary socialist rock band Rage Against the Machine - who were vocal supporters of the EZLN and other socialist causes - so much so that the symbol came to be associated with the band, separate from the EZLN. The red star is used by the Workers' Party (Brazil). It is also used by the militant South African shack dweller's movement Abahlali baseMjondolo.
[edit] Legal status
In countries that were formerly within the Soviet Union's sphere of influence, the Red Star and the Hammer and Sickle are regarded by some citizens as occupation symbols. Accordingly, the Republic of Hungary banned the symbols' public usage. A similar law was considered in Republic of Estonia, but eventually failed in a parliamentary committee as too onerous for constitutionally guaranteed freedoms, most importantly, freedom of speech.
