Poll: Would you ban the Soviet Flag?

[Laika]

Following on from the poll on the Nazi flag, what’s your view on the hammer and sickle as the flag of the USSR? Would you ban it in your country?

poll is private, you can change your vote and will close in 14 days/two weeks.

 

[JustGeorge]

No.

I'm not a history buff, but I'm not sure what the offense would be with flying the USSR flag...

 

[Dan From Smithville]

Following on from the poll on the Nazi flag, what’s your view on the hammer and sickle as the flag of the USSR? Would you ban it in your country?

poll is private, you can change your vote and will close in 14 days/two weeks.

Is the Soviet flag still around?

 

[Eddi]

No

Because unlike with the NAZIs you don't get Communists beating up and wanting to exterminate ethnic minorities or gay people

But as a Socialist I would never wave one or use one as a symbol, as it has so much negative baggage associated with it

 

[Laika]

Is the Soviet flag still around?

yeah. You can buy one on Amazon for a few pounds. You can also get soviet badges and busts of Lenin and other soviet leaders on Ebay. The symbols are very much still here if you know where to look.

 

[Valjean]

Why ban the Soviet flag? Weren't the the hammer and sickle meant to be humanist symbols?
Of course, the Soviets failed to live up the the Marxian ideals they claimed, but neither did the Americans live up to the progressive, humanist ideals their country was founded on.

The Nazis, on the other hand, were just what they claimed to be. Their swastikas were honest symbols of the evil they wrought.

 

[Dan From Smithville]

yeah. You can buy one on Amazon for a few pounds. You can also get soviet badges and busts of Lenin and other soviet leaders on Ebay. The symbols are very much still here if you know where to look.

Interesting. I should have realized there was a collectors market for things like that. There is a huge collectors market for Nazi items.

I am not sure why someone would want to fly that flag in the US. Unless they were looking for a fight or were suicidal. It doesn't bother me personally, but it would be free speech if they did it on their own property.

 

[Laika]

Interesting. I should have realized there was a collectors market for things like that. There is a huge collectors market for Nazi items.

I am not sure why someone would want to fly that flag in the US. Unless they were looking for a fight or were suicidal. It doesn't bother me personally, but it would be free speech if they did it on their own property.

there are laws against flying the Red Flag in several US states from the first red scare in the 1920’s, but the one in California was ruled unconstitutional in 1931.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bans_on_communist_symbols

edit: Anti-communist laws from the McCarthy era (1950’s) are still on the statue books preventing communists from running as election candidates, working in education or state governments, etc. In manu US states as well.

The Communist Control Act 1954 is still in technically in force banning the communist party but is of such dubious constitutionality people have ignored it. It was rushed through Congress and is too badly written to be enforced as the ban is in the preamble rather than in the text of the law itself.

 

[Shadow Wolf]

I'm general I'm not much for banning things.

 

[Dan From Smithville]

there are laws against flying the Red Flag in several US states from the first red scare in the 1920’s, but the one in California was ruled unconstitutional in 1931.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bans_on_communist_symbols

edit: Anti-communist laws from the McCarthy era (1950’s) are still on the statue books preventing communists from running as election candidates, working in education or state governments, etc. In manu US states as well.

The Communist Control Act 1954 is still in technically in force banning the communist party but is of such dubious constitutionality people have ignored it. It was rushed through Congress and is too badly written to be enforced as the ban is in the preamble rather than in the text of the law itself.

Thanks for the interesting info. Communists are not much on my radar despite the fact that there are people still frightened that somehow they will take over the US. I know a few people from the former USSR that don't see the US as anywhere close to communism or to embracing it. They find the fear that some have to be amusing.

 

[Estro Felino]

I can only say that Partito Comunista still exists in Italy and that is its symbol.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Communist_Party_(Italy)

Its leader Marco Rizzo is an amazing person. A great politician. Souverainst, trade unionist, populist. Greatly cultured and very bright.
I do think the Italian left can be reborn thanks to people like him.

 

[Laika]

Thanks for the interesting info. Communists are not much on my radar despite the fact that there are people still frightened that somehow they will take over the US. I know a few people from the former USSR that don't see the US as anywhere close to communism or to embracing it. They find the fear that some have to be amusing.

That fair really. Communists don’t exist politically anymore as an effective force and there is alot of exaggeration to stir up conservatives.

I think Communists poll something like less than 0.1% of votes in US presidential elections with the CPUSA membership numbering 5-10,000 these days. (Similar situation in the UK with about 0.5% of the vote and the CPB having 1,200 members.)

France’s communists have declined but get 2-3% in legislative elections, with Japan’s holding round 7-12% which is a “good” performance by todays standards. Russia’s communists have a major historical base of support to build on and got nearly 19% in the Presidential elections (coming second after United Russia which got 49-50%).

American communism is a rounding error by comparison. The numbers say it all really and this is during a “high point” of left-wing populism.

 

[exchemist]

yeah. You can buy one on Amazon for a few pounds. You can also get soviet badges and busts of Lenin and other soviet leaders on Ebay. The symbols are very much still here if you know where to look.

I think I may have a hammer and sickle lapel badge somewhere, a souvenir from my visit to S.S. Aurora in St. Petersburg, just before the fall of the Iron Curtain.

This flag is just a historical curiosity. It hasn't become the symbol of any ideological group, so far as I know.

 

[Aupmanyav]

Being a Communist is perfectly legal in India. They rule Kerala, the beautiful Southern state of India and their rule has brought prosperity to the State. Communists ruled W. Bengal for 34 years (where they faltered). Actually we have a whole range of communist parties, and a bigger list of defunct Communist parties. See here:

Communist Party of India and Communist Party of India (Marxist) are the major communist parties.
communist party agitations - Google Search

1 Pro-Left Front Communist Parties
2 Left United Front
3 Pro-Naxal/Maoist Communist Parties
3.1 Moderate Pro-Naxal/Maoist Communist Parties
3.2 Extremist Pro-Naxal/Maoist Communist Parties
4 Pro-Congress/UPA Communist Parties
5 Pro-BJP/NDA Communist Parties
6 Other Communist Parties

 

[mangalavara]

Their swastikas were honest symbols of the evil they wrought.

You follow Vedānta yet really think that about the swastika?

 

[Valjean]

You follow Vedānta yet really think that about the swastika?

LOL -- I thought we were talking about the Nazi swastika.

 

[mangalavara]

LOL -- I thought we were talking about the Nazi swastika.

Yeah, it just occurred to me. It is a black swastika, after all.

 

[Revoltingest]

Following on from the poll on the Nazi flag, what’s your view on the hammer and sickle as the flag of the USSR? Would you ban it in your country?

No.

 

[Aupmanyav]

Swasti (Su asti - good is) is for welfare of all, humans and other living beings, without any exception other than what is for food.

They said 'Jeevo jeevasya bhojanam" (one life form is food for the other - Srimad Bhagawat Purana, Dharma-Vyādha prakaran).

They also said: "Brahmarpanam brahmahavih brahmnahutam, brahmaiva tena gantavyam brahmakarma samadhina" (the spoon with which the oblation is given is Brahman, and the offering too is Brahman, the act of offering is the act of Brahman, the person who performs this act of Brahman has Brahman as his goal - difficult translation, but I think I got is right this time. See the difference with Prabhupada translation) - BhagawadGita, Chapter 4, Verse 24).
* In layman's language, the eaten is Brahman and the eater also is Brahman. The killer is Brahman and the killed also is Brahman.

And finally they said "prapam datarantarishurjanno dhehi dwipade chatushpade" (O universal giver, give such food which creates energy in the two-legged as well as four-legged - YajurVeda, Chapter 11, Verse 83).

I wrote this to defend non-veg. food. It is not a crime or sin. But I agree that if one can do without it, it is always better.
Don't think that I know all these mantras by heart. I am no pundit. But I know where to search for things like this and do it quite quickly.

 

[Kooky]

That fair really. Communists don’t exist politically anymore as an effective force and there is alot of exaggeration to stir up conservatives.

I think Communists poll something like less than 0.1% of votes in US presidential elections with the CPUSA membership numbering 5-10,000 these days. (Similar situation in the UK with about 0.5% of the vote and the CPB having 1,200 members.)

France’s communists have declined but get 2-3% in legislative elections, with Japan’s holding round 7-12% which is a “good” performance by todays standards. Russia’s communists have a major historical base of support to build on and got nearly 19% in the Presidential elections (coming second after United Russia which got 49-50%).

American communism is a rounding error by comparison. The numbers say it all really and this is during a “high point” of left-wing populism.

I mean, at some point the US government did consider communism a sufficient threat to engage in large scale, extraconstitutional persecution of the movement, but that was quite a long time ago.