Editing Red (section)

== In politics ==

{{More citations needed|section|date=July 2021}}
[[File:Sansculottes.jpg|thumb|upright|The red [[Phrygian cap]] worn by ''[[sans-culottes]]'' during the [[French Revolution]]]] 
[[File:SPD logo.svg|thumb|upright|Logo of the [[German Social Democratic Party]]]]

In 18th-century Europe, red was usually associated with the monarchy and with those in power. The [[Pope]] wore red, as did the [[Swiss Guards]] of the [[Kings of France]], the soldiers of the [[British Army]] and the [[Danish Army]].

In the Roman Empire, freed slaves were given a red [[Phrygian cap]]  as an emblem of their liberation. Because of this symbolism, the red "Liberty cap" became a symbol of the American patriots fighting for independence from England. During the [[French Revolution]], the [[Jacobins]] also adapted the red [[Phrygian cap]], and forced the deposed King [[Louis XVI]] to wear one after his arrest.<ref name="auto"/>

===Socialism and communism===
In the 19th century, with the [[Industrial Revolution]] and the rise of worker's movements, red became the color of [[socialism]] (especially the [[Marxism|Marxist]] [[Socialism (Marxism)|variant]]), and, with the [[Paris Commune]] of 1871, of revolution.<ref name="marh"/>

In the 20th century, red was the color first of the Russian [[Bolsheviks]] and then, after the success of the [[Russian Revolution]] of 1917, of [[communist parties]] around the world. However, after the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, Russia went back to the pre-revolutionary blue, white and red flag.

Red also became the color of many [[Social democracy|social democratic]] parties in Europe, including the [[Labour Party (UK)|Labour Party]] in Britain (founded 1900); the [[Social Democratic Party of Germany]] (whose roots went back to 1863) and the [[Socialist Party (France)|French Socialist Party]], which dated back under different names, to 1879. The [[Socialist Party of America]] (1901–1972) and the [[Communist Party USA]] (1919) both also chose red as their color.

Members of the [[Christian-Social People's Party (Liechtenstein)|Christian-Social People's Party]] in [[Liechtenstein]] (founded 1918) advocated an expansion of democracy and progressive social policies, and were often referred to disparagingly as "Reds" for their social liberal leanings and party colors.<ref name="NA">{{cite web |title=Christlich-soziale Volkspartei |url=http://www.e-archiv.li/koerperschaftDetail.aspx?backurl=auto&koerperID=3396 |website=e-archiv.li |publisher=Liechtenstein National Archives |access-date=22 February 2014 |language=de |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140301122421/http://www.e-archiv.li/koerperschaftDetail.aspx?backurl=auto&koerperID=3396 |archive-date=1 March 2014 |url-status=live }}</ref>

The [[Chinese Communist Party]], founded in 1920, adopted the red flag and hammer and sickle emblem of the Soviet Union, which became the national symbols when the Party took power in China in 1949. Under Party leader [[Mao Zedong]], the Party anthem became "[[The East Is Red (song)|The East Is Red]]",<ref>{{cite magazine |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,943793,00.html |title=The East Is Red |magazine=[[TIME (magazine)|TIME]] |access-date=2009-04-10 |date=1970-05-04 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090211084929/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,943793,00.html |archive-date=2009-02-11 |url-status=dead }}</ref> and Mao Zedong himself was sometimes referred to as a "red sun".<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.morningsun.org/red/redfamily_cp_69.html |title=The Reddest Red Sun |publisher=[[Morning Sun (documentary)|Morning Sun]] |access-date=2009-04-10 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080820024710/http://www.morningsun.org/red/redfamily_cp_69.html |archive-date=2008-08-20 |url-status=live }}</ref> During the [[Cultural Revolution]] in China, Party ideology was enforced by the [[Red Guards]], and the [[Quotations from Chairman Mao Tse-tung|sayings of Mao Zedong]] were published as a little red book in hundreds of millions of copies. Today the Chinese Communist Party claims to be the largest political party in the world, with eighty million members.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/china/2011-06/24/c_13947698.htm|title=China's Communist Party members exceed 80 million|date=2011-06-24|publisher=News.xinhuanet.com|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110929111323/http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/china/2011-06/24/c_13947698.htm|archive-date=2011-09-29|url-status=dead|access-date=2012-09-08}}</ref>

Beginning in the 1960s and the 1970s, paramilitary extremist groups such as the [[Red Army Faction]] in Germany, the [[Japanese Red Army]] and the [[Shining Path]] Maoist movement in [[Peru]] used red as their color. But in the 1980s, some European socialist and social democratic parties, such as the Labour Party in Britain and the Socialist Party in France, moved away from the symbolism of the far left, keeping the red color but changing their symbol to a less-threatening red rose.

Red is used around the world by political parties of the left or center-left. In the United States, it is the color of the Communist Party USA, and of the [[Social Democrats, USA]].

===United States===
[[File:Red states and blue states of the US based on data from the 2008, 2012, 2016 and 2020 presidential elections.svg|thumb|A map of the U.S. showing the [[blue states]], which voted for the Democratic candidate in the 2008, 2012, 2016, and 2020 presidential elections, and the [[red states]], which voted for the [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican Party]]]]

In the United States, political commentators often refer to the "red states", which voted for Republican candidates in the last four presidential elections, and "blue states", which voted for Democrats. This convention is relatively recent: before the [[2000 United States presidential election|2000 presidential election]], media outlets assigned red and blue to both parties, sometimes alternating the allocation for each election. Fixed usage was established during the 39-day recount following the 2000 election, when the media began to discuss the contest in terms of [[Red states and blue states|"red states" versus "blue states"]].<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A17079-2004Nov1.html|title=Elephants Are Red, Donkeys Are Blue|last=Farhi|first=Paul|date=Nov 2, 2004|newspaper=The Washington Post|access-date=Apr 19, 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180819102044/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A17079-2004Nov1.html|archive-date=August 19, 2018|url-status=dead}}</ref> States which voted for different parties in two of the last four presidential elections are called "Swing States", and are usually colored purple, a mix of red and blue.<ref>{{Cite web|title=What Are Swing States and How Did They Become a Key Factor in US Elections?|url=https://www.history.com/news/swing-states-presidential-elections|access-date=October 24, 2020|website=HISTORY|date=7 October 2020|archive-date=26 January 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210126085129/https://www.history.com/news/swing-states-presidential-elections|url-status=live}}</ref>