The Red Flag (song)
| Lyrics | Jim Connell, 1889 |
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| Music | Ernst Anschütz, 1824 |
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"The Red Flag" is a song about left-wing politics, in particular socialism. It is the semi-official anthem of the British Labour Party, and the official anthem of the Northern Irish Social Democratic and Labour Party and Irish Labour Party. The song is traditionally sung at the close of each party's national conference.
Irishman Jim Connell wrote the song's lyrics in 1889 in Nicholas Donovan's house. There are six stanzas, each followed by the chorus. It is normally sung to the tune of "Lauriger Horatius", better known as the German carol "O Tannenbaum" ("O Christmas Tree"), though Connell had wanted it sung to the tune of a pro-Jacobite Robert Burns anthem, "The White Cockade". When Billy Bragg recorded the song in 1990 with Scottish folk singer Dick Gaughan, he sung it to this original "White Cockade" melody. The lyrics of the first verse and the chorus, which are the most well-known parts of the song, are as follows:
"The Red Flag" resonated with the early radical workers’ movement in the United States, and it appeared as the first song in the first edition of the Little Red Songbook of the Industrial Workers of the World in 1909. Only five of the six stanzas were printed, omitting the fourth stanza that begins, "It well recalls the triumphs past."
"The Red Flag" has been the British Labour Party's official anthem from its founding; its annual party conference closes with the song. "The Red Flag" was first sung in the House of Commons on 1 August 1945, when Parliament convened after Clement Attlee's Labour defeat of Winston Churchill’s Conservatives. It was sung by Labour MPs on 27 May 1976, allegedly prompting Michael Heseltine to swing the mace above his head. It was also sung on the evening of 28 March 1979 when a motion of no confidence brought down the Labour Government. It was sung again in Parliament in February 2006 to mark the centenary of the Labour Party’s founding. During the Tony Blair years it was claimed the leadership sought to downplay its role, however, it is often sung at the end of party conferences alongside Jerusalem. Following the 2015 election of veteran socialist Jeremy Corbyn as Leader of the Labour Party and Leader of the Opposition, The Red Flag was sung as he and his supporters celebrated in The Sanctuary, a public house in London.
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