Anarchism has always stood deliberately for a broad, and at times vague, political platform. The reasoning is sound; blueprints create rigid dogma and stifle the creative spirit of revolt. Along the same lines and resulting in the same problems, Anarchists have rejected the "disciplined" leadership that is found in many other political groupings on the Left. The reasoning for this is also sound; leadership based on authority is inherently hierarchical. It seems to follow logically that since Anarchists have shied away from anything static, that they would also shy away from the importance of symbols and icons.
While this is may be an explanation of why the origination of Anarchist symbols is elusive and inconclusive, the fact is, Anarchists have used symbolism in their revolt against the State and Capital, not only the black flag, but also the circled-A and the red-and-black flag. Circled-As are spray-painted on walls and under bridges all over the world; punks display them on their jackets and scrawl them into half-dried cement. Black and red-and-black flags were resurrected in Russia and eastern Europe after the fall of state socialism and continue to fly in most parts of the world.
Therefore, the anarchist movement has various symbols associated with it. The most famous of these are the circled-A, the black flag and the red-and-black flag. This appendix tries to indicate the history of these symbols. Ironically enough, the one of the original anarchist symbols was the red flag (indeed, as anarchist historians Nicolas Walter and Heiner Becker note, "Kropotkin always preferred the red flag" [Peter Kropotkin, Act for Yourselves, p. 128]). This is unsurprising as anarchism is a form of socialism and came out of the general socialist and labour movements. Common roots would imply common imaginary. However, as mainstream socialism developed in the nineteenth century into either reformist social democracy or the state socialism of the revolutionary Marxists, anarchists developed their own images of revolt, starting with the Black Flag.
In this appendix we present a short history of the more famous symbols, namely the Black and the Red-and-Black Flags as well as the circled a. We would like to point out that this appendix is based on Jason Wehling's 1995 essay Anarchism and the History of the Black Flag. Needless to say, this appendix does not cover all anarchists symbols. For example, recently the red-and-black flag has become complemented by the green-and-black flag of eco-anarchism. Other popular symbols include the IWW inspired "Wildcat," the Black Rose and the ironic "little black bomb" (among others). However, we concentrate here on the three most famous ones.
There are ample accounts of the use of black flags by anarchists.
Probably the most famous, was Nestor Makhno's partisans during the Russia
Revolution. Under the black banner, his army routed a dozen armies and
kept a large portion of the Ukraine free from concentrated power for a
good couple years (see Peter Arshinov's History of the Makhnovist
Movement for details of this important movement). On the black flag
was embroidered "Liberty of Death" and "The Land to the Peasant, The
Factories to the Workers." [Peter Marshall, Demanding the Impossible,
p. 475] In the 1910s, Emiliano Zapata, the Mexican revolutionary,
used a black flag with a skull & crossbones & the Virgin on it -- it
also had "Land & Liberty" as a slogan ("Tierra y Libertad"). In 1925,
the Japanese anarchists formed the Black Youth League and, in 1945,
when the anarchist federation reformed, their journal was named Kurohata
(Black Flag) [Op. Cit., p. 525-6]. More recently, Parisian students
carried black (and red) flags during the massive General Strike of 1968
as well as at the America Students for a Democratic Society national
convention of the same year. At about the same time, the British based
magazine Black Flag was started and is still going strong. Today,
if you go to any sizeable demonstration you will usually see the
Black Flag raised by the anarchists present.
But the anarchists' black flag originated much earlier than this. The
first account is actually unknown. It seems that this credit is reserved
for Louise Michel, famous participant in the Paris Commune of 1871.
According to Anarchist historian George Woodcock, Michel flew the black
flag on March 9, 1883, during demonstration of the unemployed in Paris,
France. With 500 strong, Michel at the lead and shouting "Bread, work, or
lead!", they pillaged three baker's shops before being arrested by the
police [George Woodcock, Anarchism, pp. 251]. No earlier reports
can be found of Anarchists and the black flag.
Not long after, the black symbol made it's way to America. Paul Avrich
reports that on November 27, 1884, the black flag was displayed in
Chicago at an Anarchist demonstration. According to Avrich, August Spies,
one of the famous Haymarket martyrs, "noted that this was the first
occasion on which [the black flag] had been unfurled on American soil"
[Paul Avrich, The Haymarket Tragedy, pp. 144-145].
On a more dreary note, February 13, 1921 was the date that marked the end
of black flags in Soviet Russia. On that day, Peter Kropotkin's funeral
took place in Moscow. Masses of people whose march stretched for miles,
carried black banners that read, "Where there is authority there is no
freedom." [Paul Avrich, The Anarchists in the Russian Revolution, p. 26]
It seems that black flags didn't appear in Russia until the founding of
the Chernoe Zhania ("black banner") movement in 1905. Only two weeks
after Kropotkin's funeral march, the Kronstadt rebellion broke out and
anarchism was erased from Soviet Russia for good.
While the events above are fairly well known, as has been related, the
exact origin of the black flag is not. What is known is that a large
number of Anarchist groups in the early 1880s adopted titles associated
with black. In July of 1881, the Black International was founded in London.
This was an attempt to reorganise the Anarchist wing of recently dissolved
First International [George Woodcock, Op. Cit., p. 212-4]. In October 1881,
a meeting in Chicago lead to the International Working People's Association
being formed in North America. This organisation, also known as the Black
International, affiliated to the London organisation. [Clifford Harper,
Anarchy: A Graphic Guide, p. 76, Woodcock, Op. Cit., p. 393] These two
conferences are immediately followed by Michel's demonstration (1883) and
the black flags in Chicago (1884).
Further solidifying this period (circa early 1880s) as the birth of the
symbol is the name of a short lived French Anarchist publication: "Le
Drapeau Noir" (The Black Flag). According to Roderick Kedward, this
Anarchist paper existed for a few years dating sometime before October
1882, when a bomb was thrown into a cafe in Lyons [The Anarchists: the
men who shocked an era p. 35]. Backing up this theory, Avrich states
that in 1884, the black flag "was the new anarchist emblem" [Paul
Avrich, The Haymarket Tragedy, p. 144]. In agreement, Murray Bookchin
reports that "in later years, the Anarchists were to adopt the black
flag" when speaking of the Spanish Anarchist movement in June, 1870
[Murray Bookchin, The Spanish Anarchists, p. 57]. At that time,
anarchists widely used the red flag. It appears obvious (though
not conclusive) that this is the period that the black flag bonded
with Anarchism. However, use of the red flag did not instantly
die out. Thus we find Kropotkin writing Words of a Rebel (published
in 1885, but written between 1880 and 1882) of "anarchist groups . . .
rais[ing] the red flag of revolution." As Woodcock notes, the "black
flag was not universally accepted by anarchists at this time. Many,
like Kropotkin, still thought of themselves as socialists and of the
red flag as theirs also." [Words of a Rebel, p. 75, p. 225] In
addition, we find the Chicago anarchists using both black and red
flags all through the 1880s.
The general drift away from the red flag towards the black must
be placed in the historical context. During the later part of the
1870s and in the 1880s the socialist movement was changing. Marxist
social democracy was being the dominant socialist trend, with
libertarian socialism going into decline in many areas. Thus
the red flag was increasingly associated with the authoritarian
and statist (and increasingly reformist) side of the socialist
movement. In order to distinguish themselves from other socialists,
the use of the black flag makes perfect sense. Not only was it an
accepted symbol of working class revolt, it shared the same origins
in the 1831 Lyons revolt [Bookchin, The Third Revolution, vol. 2,
p. 65].
It seems that figuring out when the connection was made is easier than
finding out why, exactly, black was chosen. The Chicago "Alarm", which is
right from the horses mouth, stated that the black flag is "the fearful symbol of hunger. misery and death" [Paul Avrich, The Haymarket Tragedy,
p. 144]. Bookchin asserts that the black flag is the "symbol of the
workers misery and as an expression of their anger and bitterness."
[Op. Cit., p. 57]. Historian Bruce C. Nelson also notes that the Black
Flag was considered "the emblem of hunger" when it was unfurled in
Chicago in 1884. [Beyond the Martyrs: A Social History of Chicago's
Anarchists, p. 141, p. 150]
Along these lines, Albert Meltzer maintains that the association between
the black flag and working class revolt "originated in Rheims [France] in
1831 ('Work or Death') in an unemployed demonstration." [Albert Meltzer,
The Anarcho-Quiz Book, p. 49] In fact he goes on to assert that it
was Michel's action in 1883 that solidified the association. The links
from revolts in France to anarchism are even stronger. As Murray Bookchin
records, "[i]n 1831, the silk-weaving artisans. . . rose in armed
conflict to gain a better tarif, or contract, from the merchants.
For a brief period they actually took control of the city, under
red and black flags -- which made their insurrection a memorable
event in the history of revolutionary symbols. Their use of the
word mutuelisme to denote the associative disposition of society
that they preferred made their insurrection a memorable event in
the history of anarchist thought as well, since Proudhon appears
to have picked up the word from them during his brief stay in the
city in 1843-4." [The Third Revolution, vol. 2, p. 157]
Kropotkin himself states that its use continued in the French labour
movement after this uprising. He notes that the Paris Workers "raised
in June [1848] their black flag of 'Bread or Labour'" [Act for
Yourselves, p. 100]
The use of the black flag by anarchists, therefore, is an expression
of their roots and activity in the labour movement in Europe,
particularly in France. The anarchist adoption of the Black Flag
by the anarchist movement in the 1880s reflects its use as "the
traditional symbol of hunger, poverty and despair" and that it was
"raised during popular risings in Europe as a sign of no surrender
and no quarter." [Walter and Becker, Act for Yourselves, p. 128]
This is unsurprising given the nature of anarchist politics. Just
as anarchists base their ideas on actual working class practice,
they would also base their symbols on those created by the practice.
For example, Proudhon as well as taking the term "mutualism" from
radical workers also argued that co-operative "labour associations"
had "spontaneously, without prompting and without capital been
formed in Paris and in Lyon. . . the proof of it [mutualism, the
organisation of credit and labour]. . . lies in current practice,
revolutionary practice." He considered his ideas, in other words,
to be an expression of working class self-activity. [No Gods, No
Masters, vol. 1, pp. 59-60] Indeed, according to K. Steven Vincent,
there was "close similarity between the associational ideal of
Proudhon . . . and the program of the Lyon Mutualists" and that
there was "a remarkable convergence [between the ideas], and
it is likely that Proudhon was able to articulate his positive
program more coherently because of the example of the silk
workers of Lyon. The socialist ideal that he championed was
already being realised, to a certain extent, by such workers."
[Piere-Joseph Proudhon and the Rise of French Republican
Socialism, p. 164] Other anarchists have made similar
arguments concerning anarchism being the expression of
tendencies within society and working class struggle (for
Kropotkin see section J.5) and so the using of a traditional
workers' symbol would be a natural expression of this aspect
of anarchism.
But there are other possibilities.
Black is a very powerful colour, or anti-colour as it were. The 1880s
were a time of extreme anarchist activity. The Black International saw
the introduction of "propaganda by the deed" as an anarchist
platform.
Historically black has been associated with blood -- dried blood
specifically -- like the red flag. So while it is tied to working
class rebellion, it was also a symbol of the nihilism of the period
(a nihilism generated by the mass slaughter of Communards by the
French ruling class after the fall of the Paris Commune of 1871).
It is this slaughter of the Communards which may also point to
the use of the Black Flag by anarchists. Black "is the colour of
mourning [at least in Western cultures], it symbolises our mourning
for dead comrades, those whose lives were taken by war, on the
battlefield (between states) or in the streets and on the
picket lines (between classes)." [Chico, "letters", Freedom,
vol. 48, No. 12, p. 10] Given the 25 000 dead in the Commune,
many of them anarchists and libertarian socialists, the use of
the Black Flag by anarchists after this event would make sense.
Sandino, the Nicaraguan libertarian socialist (whose use of the
red-and-black colours we discuss in the
next section) also
said that black stood for mourning ("Red for liberty; black
for mourning; and the skull for a struggle to the death"
[Donald C. Hodges, Sandino's Communism, p. 24]).
There is a possible philosophical rationale behind the use
the colour black. Another reason why anarchists turned to
the black flag could be because of its nature as a sign of
"negation". Many of the writers on the Black Flag have
mentioned this aspect, for example Howard J. Ehrlich
argues that black "is a shade of negation. The black
flag is the negation of all flags." [Reinventing Anarchy,
Again, p. 31] As a symbol of negation, the black flag
fits nicely in with some of Bakunin's ideas -- particularly
his ideas on progress. Being influenced by Hegel, Bakunin
accepted Hegel's dialectical method but always stressed
that the negative side was motive force within it (see
Robert M. Culter's introduction to The Basic Bakunin for
details). Thus he defines progress as the negation of the
initial position (for example, in God and the State, he
argues that "[e]very development . . . implies the negation
of its point of departure" [p. 48]). What better sign to
signify the anarchist movement than one which is the
negation of all other flags, this negation signifying
the movement into a higher form of social life? Thus the
black flag could symbolise the negation of existing society,
of all existing states, and so paves the way for a new
society, a free one. However, whether this was a factor
in the adoption of the black flag or just a coincidence
we cannot tell at this moment.
There is also an interesting connection between the black flag and
pirates. There is an unconfirmed report that Louise Michel, while lead
the women's battalion during the Paris Commune of 1871, may have flown
the skull and crossbones. But the association may go further.
Pirates were seen as rebels, as free spirits, and often ruthless killers.
While pirates varied a great deal, many had an elected Captain of the
pirate ship. In some cases the captain wasn't even male, which was very
unusual for the time. He or she was "subject to instant recall", and life
on board a pirate ship was certainly more democratic than life on board
ships of the British, American or French Navies -- let alone a merchant
ship.
For pirates, the black flag was a symbol of death; the give-away being a
skull and bones on black. A sign equivalent with "surrender or die!" It
was intended to scare their victims into submitting without a fight. It
operated in much the same way as Ghengis Khan's armies.
Many others also adopted the black flag as a sign of "surrender or die!".
A Confederate officer named Quantrill in during the American Civil War
fought under the black flag. He was known as unwilling to show mercy to
his opponents and he did not expect any mercy in return. Also, General
Santa Anna of Mexico was a notorious flyer of the black flag. He even
flew them at the Alamo. Accompanying the black banner, he had his buglers
play a call named "The Deguello," which was a call that meant "no quarter
will be given" (Take No Prisoners). This use of the black flag was
echoed by the America anarchists of the Black International. While
it "was interpreted in anarchist circles as the symbol of death, hunger
and misery" it was "also said to be the 'emblem of retribution'" and in
a labour procession in Cincinnati in January 1885, "it was further
acknowledged to be the banner of working-class intransigence, as
demonstrated by the words 'No Quarter' inscribed on it." [Donald C.
Hodges, Sandino's Communism, p. 21 -- see also Avrich, Op. Cit.,
p. 82]
While Khan, Quantrill and General Santa Anna are not connected to
anarchism in the slightest -- pirates, on the other hand, are more
complicated. They were seen as rebels. Rebels without a state, owing
allegiance to no code of law except whatever makeshift rules they
improvised amongst themselves. Certainly pirates were not consciously
anarchist, and often acted no better than barbarians. But what is
important is how they were seen. Their symbol was the embodiment of
rebellion and the spirit of lawlessness and rebellion. They were hated
by the ruling class.
This may have been enough for the starving and unemployed to pick up the
black flag in revolt. In fact, one could quickly get a hold of a piece of
red or black cloth in a riot. Getting hold of the material was easy.
Painting a complicated symbol on it took time. So an improvised rebel
flag raised in a riot was likely to be of just one colour. Hence it
follows nicely that the black flag flew without the skull and bones
because it was necessarily make-shift for a riot.
To this question of the black flag, Howard Ehrlich has a great passage in
his book Reinventing Anarchy, Again. It is worth quoting at length:
"But black is also beautiful. It is a colour of determination, of resolve,
of strength, a colour by which all others are clarified and defined.
Black is the mysterious surrounding of germination, of fertility, the
breeding ground of new life which always evolves, renews, refreshes, and
reproduces itself in darkness. The seed hidden in the earth, the strange
journey of the sperm, the secret growth of the embryo in the womb all
these the blackness surrounds and protects.
"So black is negation, is anger, is outrage, is mourning, is beauty, is
hope, is the fostering and sheltering of new forms of human life and
relationship on and with this earth. The black flag means all these
things. We are proud to carry it, sorry we have to, and look forward to
the day when such a symbol will no longer be necessary." [Reinventing
Anarchy, Again, pp. 31-2]
The red-and-black flag has been associated with anarchism for some time.
Murray Bookchin places the creation of this flag in Spain:
However, there is plenty of evidence to suggest that the red-and-black
flag spread across to other countries, particularly those with strong
links to Spain (such as other Latin countries). For example, during the
"Two Red Years" in Italy which culminated in the factory occupations of
1920 (see section A.5.5) the red-and-black flag was raised by workers
in revolt [Gwyn A. Williams, Proletarian Order, p. 241] Similarly,
Augusto Sandino, the radical Nicaraguan national liberation fighter
was so inspired by the example of the Mexican anarcho-syndicalists
during the Mexican revolution that he based his movement's flag on their red-and-black ones (the Sandinista's flag is divided horizontally,
rather than diagonally). As historian Donald C. Hodges notes, Sandino's
"red and black flag had an anarcho-syndicalist origin, having been
introduced into Mexico by Spanish immigrants." Unsurprisingly, his
flag was considered a "workers' flag symbolising their struggle for
liberation." (Hodges refers to Sandino's "peculiar brand of
anarcho-communism" suggesting that his appropriation of the flag
indicated a strong libertarian theme to his politics). [Intellectual
Foundations of the Nicaraguan Revolution, p. 49, p. 137, p. 19]
In the English speaking world, the use of the red-and-black flag by
anarchists seems to spring from the world-wide publicity generated
by the Spanish Revolution and Civil War in 1936. With CNT-FAI related
information spreading across the world, the familiarity of the
CNT inspired red-and-black flag also spread until it became a
common anarchist and anarcho-syndicalist symbol in all countries.
For some, the red-and-black flag is associated with anarcho-syndicalism
more than anarchism. As Albert Meltzer puts it, "[t]he flag of the
labour movement (not necessarily only of socialism) is red. The
CNT of Spain originated the red-and-black of anarchosyndicalism
(anarchism plus the labour movement)." [Anarcho-Quiz Book, p. 50]
Donald C. Hodges makes a similar point, when he states that "[o]n
the insignia of the Mexico's House of the World Worker [the Mexican
anarcho-syndicalist union], the red band stood for the economic
struggle of workers against the proprietary classes, and the
black for their insurrectionary struggle." [Sandino's Communism,
p. 22]
George Woodcock also stresses the Spanish origin of the flag:
However, there is an earlier recorded use of the red-and-black
flag, suggesting it was, perhaps, rediscovered by the Spanish
Anarchists. In April, 1877, 26 anarchists "entered the small
commune of Letino [Italy], prominently displaying the red and
black anarchist flag" in a failed attempt to create a revolution.
[T.R. Ravindranathan, Bakunin and the Italians, p. 228]
George Woodcock records the same event and the same flag
being used [Anarchism, p. 285] Given that the black and red
flags were associated with the Lyon's uprising of 1831, perhaps
this use of the red-and-black flag is not too unusual. The
use of this flag does seem to have not been widespread and
it was only with the founding of the CNT over 30 years later
in Spain that it was used again.
Over time association with anarcho-syndicalism has become less
noted, with many non-syndicalist anarchists happy to use the
red-and-black flag (many anarcho-communists use the red-and-black
flag, for example). It would be a good generalisation to state that
social anarchists are more inclined to use the red-and-black flag
than individualist anarchists are social anarchists are usually
more willing to align themselves with the wider socialist and
labour movements than individualists (in modern times at least).
Thus the red-and-black flag comes from the experience of anarcho-syndicalism,
with the black representing libertarian ideas and the red representing
the labour movement. However, it has become a standard anarchist symbol
as the years have went by, with the black still representing anarchy and
the red social co-operation or solidarity. Thus the red-and-black flag
more than any one symbol symbolises the aim of anarchism: "Liberty of
the individual and social co-operation of the whole community." [Peter
Kropotkin, Act for Yourselves, p. 102]
The circled-A is even more famous than the Black and Red-and-Black flags
as an anarchist symbol (probably because it lends itself so well to
graffiti). According to Peter Marshall the "circled-A" represents
Proudhon's maxim "Anarchy is Order." [Demanding the Impossible
p. 558] Peter Peterson also adds that the circle is "a symbol of
unity and determination" which "lends support to the off-proclaimed
idea of international anarchist solidarity." ["Flag, Torch, and Fist:
The Symbols of Anarchism", Freedom, vol. 48, No. 11, pp. 8]
However, the origin of the "circled-A" as an anarchist symbol is less clear.
Many think that it started in the 1970s punk movement, but it goes back to
a much earlier period. According to Peter Marshall, "[i]n 1964 a French
group, Jeunesse Libertaire, gave new impetus to Proudhon's slogan
'Anarchy is Order' by creating the circled-A a symbol which quickly
proliferated throughout the world." [Op. Cit., p. 445] This is not the
earliest sighting of this symbol. On November 25 1956, at its foundation
in Brussels, the Alliance Ouvriere Anarchiste (AOA) adopted this symbol.
Going even further, a BBC documentary on the Spanish Civil War shows
an anarchist militia member with a "circled-A" clearly on the back of
his helmet. Other than this, there is little know about the "circled-A"s
origin.
Today the circled-A is one of the most successful images in the whole
field of political symbolising. Its "incredible simplicity and directness
led [it] to become the accepted symbol of the restrengthened anarchist
movement after the revolt of 1968" particularly as in many, if not most,
of the world's languages the word for anarchy begins with the letter
A. [Peter Peterson, Op. Cit., p. 8]
“That’s a big honor,” commented Larry. “The passenger, while they were high up, threw something and hit the pilot, the seaplane went out of control, the man jumped—and then cut free his parachute, cut the sack holding the emeralds, and hid in the swamp.” “I see a light,” Sandy said as the airplane swung far out over the dark water. “A green light, but the hydroplane wouldn’t carry lights.” "No, no; it's a good deal, but it ain't too much. Not that it could be more, very well," he added, and he glanced furtively at the woman within, who had stretched out on the lounge with her face to the wall. Mrs. Taylor was fanning her. But though the 21st of January was to be the day of the grand attack on the Ministry, the battle was not deferred till then. Every day was a field-day, and the sinking Minister was dogged step by step, his influence weakened by repeated divisions, and his strength worn out by the display of the inevitable approach of the catastrophe. The first decided defeat that he suffered was in the election of the Chairman of Committees. The Ministerial candidate, Giles Earle, was thrown out by a majority of two hundred and forty-two to two hundred and thirty-eight, and the Opposition candidate, Dr. Lee, was hailed by a shout that rent the House. Other close divisions followed. The fall of Walpole was now certain, and he would have consulted both his dignity and comfort in resigning at once. This was the earnest advice of his friends, but he had been too long accustomed to power to yield willingly. He was oppressed with a sense of his defeats, and the insolence of enemies whom he had so long calmly looked down upon without fear. He was growing old and wanted repose, but he still clung convulsively to his authority, though he had ceased to enjoy it. "Should think they was bride and groom, if they wasn't so old." "March them right over to that shed there," said the Major, "and the Quartermaster will issue them muskets and equipments, which you can turn over again when you reach Chattanooga. Good-by. I hope you'll have a pleasant trip. Remember me to the boys of the old brigade and tell them I'll be with them before they start out for Atlanta." The train finally halted on a side-track in the outskirts of Chattanooga, under the gigantic shadow of Lookout Mountain, and in the midst of an ocean of turmoiling activity that made the eyes ache to look upon it, and awed every one, even Si and Shorty, with a sense of incomprehensible immensity. As far as they could see, in every direction, were camps, forts, intrenchments, flags, hordes of men, trains of wagons, herds of cattle, innumerable horses, countless mules, mountains of boxes, barrels and bales. Immediately around them was a wilderness of trains, with noisy locomotives and shouting men. Regiments returning from veteran furlough, or entirely new ones, were disembarking with loud cheering, which was answered from the camps on the hillsides. On the river front steamboats were whistling and clanging their bells. "Go out and git you a rebel for yourself, if you want to know about 'em," Shorty had snapped at the Orderly. "There's plenty more up there on the hill. It's full of 'em." "Drat 'em! durn 'em!" "He's dead," said Realf. Should you leave me too, O my faithless ladie!" The odds were generally on Reuben. It was felt that a certain unscrupulousness was necessary to the job, and in that Backfield had the advantage. "Young Realf wudn't hurt a fly," his champions had to acknowledge. Though the money was with Reuben, the sympathy was mostly with Realf, for the former's dealings had scarcely made him popular. He was a hard man to his customers, he never let them owe him for grain or roots or fodder; his farm-hands, when drunk, spoke of him as a monster, and a not very tender-hearted peasantry worked itself sentimental over his treatment of his children. Caro was frightened, horrified—she broke free, and scrambled to her feet. She nearly wept, and it was clear even to his muddled brain that her invitation had been merely the result of innocence more profound than that which had stimulated her shyness. Rough seaman though he was, he was touched, and managed to soothe her, for she was too bashful and frightened to be really indignant. They walked a few yards further along the path, then at her request turned back towards Odiam. Calverley reluctantly departed on his mission, cursing the interruption that prevented his enjoying the degradation of his rival, and the baron now inquired whether Holgrave had confessed himself his villein. HoME国家产免费一级毛卡片
ENTER NUMBET 0017 1 What is the history of the Black Flag?
"Why is our flag black? Black is a shade of negation. The black flag is
the negation of all flags. It is a negation of nationhood which puts the
human race against itself and denies the unity of all humankind. Black is
a mood of anger and outrage at all the hideous crimes against humanity
perpetrated in the name of allegiance to one state or another. It is
anger and outrage at the insult to human intelligence implied in the
pretences, hypocrisies, and cheap chicaneries of governments . . .
Black is also a colour of mourning; the black flag which cancels out the
nation also mourns its victims the countless millions murdered in wars,
external and internal, to the greater glory and stability of some bloody
state. It mourns for those whose labour is robbed (taxed) to pay for the
slaughter and oppression of other human beings. It mourns not only the
death of the body but the crippling of the spirit under authoritarian and
hierarchic systems; it mourns the millions of brain cells blacked out
with never a chance to light up the world. It is a colour of inconsolable
grief.
2 Why the red-and-black flag?
"The presence of black flags together with red ones became a feature of
Anarchist demonstrations throughout Europe and the Americas. With the
establishment of the CNT [in 1910], a single flag on which black and
red were separated diagonally, was adopted and used mainly in Spain."
[The Spanish Anarchists, p. 57]
"The anarcho-syndicalist flag in Spain was black and red,
divided diagonally. In the days of the [First] International
the anarchists, like other socialist sects, carried the red
flag, but later they tended to substitute for it the black
flag. The black-and-red flag symbolised an attempt to unite
the spirit of later anarchism with the mass appeal of the
International." [Anarchism, p. 325f]
3 Where does the circled-A come from?
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