LETTER : The red flag will continue to fly
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.From Mr John Gorman
Sir: Steve Hitchens (letter, 19 May), in referring to the flying of the red flag over Islington town hall, argues that the red flag is a "symbol of oppression". Nonsense. It is an emblem of revolt, liberation and international working-class solidarity.
Its origins are uncertain, but Britain may lay claim. Professor Gwyn Williams, in writing of the Merthyr Tydfil rising of 1831, relates how the miners, after a bloody confrontation with the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders, "ritually sacrificed a calf, washed a flag in its blood and impaled a loaf of bread on the staff" and "marched to rouse the people to insurrection".
When Jim Connell, the grand old Irish socialist, wrote The Red Flag in 1889, he was, he said, inspired by the judicial murder of trade unionists in Chicago in 1887, and the great London dock strike of 1889. Both events arose from the struggle of working people against oppression.
The red flag may not fly in Islington next year, but it is worth recalling the fifth verse of The Red Flag:
It suits today the weak and base
Whose minds are fixed on pelf and place
To cringe before the rich man's frown
And haul the sacred emblem down
Haul it down, Mr Hitchens, but it will still flutter aloft in the hearts of all true socialists.
Yours sincerely,
JOHN GORMAN
Waltham Abbey, Essex
21 May
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments