Political colour

Certain political parties or positions have become associated with different colours at different times.

Colours

Black is primarily associated with anarchism (see anarchist symbolism).
- In the countries with a history of anti-clericalism in Europe and elsewhere in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the officials of the Catholic Church, because their vestments are often black, were called the Black International.^{[dubious – discuss]}
- In Germany and Austria, it is the colour historically associated with Christian Democrats.
- Black is sometimes associated with fascism (see blackshirts)
- In the Islamic world, black flags (often with a white shahadah) are sometimes used by Islamist groups (historically, black was the colour of the Abbasid caliphate).
Blue, particularly dark blue, is often associated with Conservative parties, originating from its use by that party of the UK.
- Light blue (azure) is used for the field of the flag of the United Nations. Though it was idealistically chosen to represent peace and hope, one use of the colour has appeared that refers to dealings with the UN in realpolitik terms, namely bluewashing.
- In the United States, since 2000 blue has been associated with the liberal Democratic Party.
Brown has been associated with working class Nazism, because the Sturmabteilung (commonly known as the SA) were called "brownshirts". In Europe and elsewhere in the twentieth century, fascists were sometimes called the Brown International.^{[dubious – discuss]}
Gray was chosen by the German political writer Paul de Lagarde as the symbol of liberals in the nineteenth-century sense (or current European one), which he called the Gray International.
- The Grays – Senior citizens' interest party.
Green is the colour for green parties worldwide.
- Sea green was used as a symbol by members of the Levellers in 17th century Britain; for this reason, it is occasionally used to represent radical liberalism or libertarianism.
- Irish Nationalist movements have used the colour green for centuries. This colour is also used by the Irish Government.
- Green has sometimes also been linked to agrarian movements, such as the Populist Party in the US in the 1890s, and the modern day Nordic Agrarian parties.
- Green, considered the holy colour of Islam, is also used by some Islamists, such as Hamas.
Orange is sometimes associated with Christian Democratic parties and sometimes various kinds of populist parties. Such is the case in Germany, France, Switzerland, Finland, Hungary, Bolivia, Canada. Following the Ukrainian 'Orange Revolution', the colour has been used by groups and organizations in the Middle East, such as in Lebanon, Palestine, Egypt, Bahrain and Israel.
- In the Northern Ireland orange is associated with Unionism and the Orange Order, and in the UK orange was the colour of the historical Liberal Party.
- In The Netherlands orange is linked to various right-wing and monarchist parties, because of the name Orange of the royal house, and the national association with the colour.
- In Canada, the New Democratic Party, a social-democratic party, uses orange as its colour.
- In Israel, orange linked to anti-disengagement rallies and other right wing and pro-settlement activity.
Red is traditionally associated with socialism and communism; see Red flag.
- In Europe, red is associated with parties of social democracy, and often their allies within the Labour movement.
- In several Latin American countries, Red is associated with social-democrat and socialist parties.
- In the United States since 2000, it is associated with the conservative Republican Party.
White has been linked to pacifism (as in the surrender flag) and to independent politicians like Martin Bell.
- Historically, it was associated with support for absolutist monarchists, first for supporters of the Bourbon dynasty of France, because it was the dynasty's colour. Later it was used by the Czarist Whites in the Russian Revolution of 1917, because their purpose was similar. In the civil war following the independence of Finland in 1917, white was used by the conservative and democratic forces which stood against the socialist red forces.
- In Italy it is the colour, with red, of Catholic parties, because of the symbol of the blazon Argent, a cross Gules.
Yellow is also associated with Judaism and the Jewish people (see also Yellow badge). In the nineteenth century in Europe, anti-Semites sometimes referred to Jews collectively as the Yellow International. ^{[dubious – discuss]} This derives from the name of a German book, The Golden International.^{[citation needed]}
- In much of Europe, yellow is the colour associated with liberalism/libertarianism, including the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe and the Liberal Democrats.
Saffron is the colour used to represent Hindutva.^[1]

Exceptions and variations

Notable exceptions and variations to the above colour schemes are:

In Australia, the Australian Labor Party will typically use red, and the Liberal Party of Australia typically blue. However, this does conform to the above colour in that the "Liberal" party is in fact conservative, the main party of the Right in Australia, and the ALP had historically identified itself as a social-democratic party. The use is essentially the same as the use of blue and red by the UK Conservative and Labour Parties. The Australian Greens use green, while a green-and-gold combination is used both by the National Party of Australia and the Australian Democrats. The colours of the former, however, are not ideological in nature, but are derived from the fact that Australia's national colours are green and gold.
In Austria, the Social Democratic Party of Austria are traditionally branded red while the conservative, christian-democratic Austrian People's Party are associated with black. The far-right nationalist Freedom Party of Austria is light blue, and the right-wing populist Alliance for the Future of Austria uses orange.
In Belgium, the Liberal Democrats (VLD and MR) are blue and the Christian Democrats (CD&V and CDH) are orange. The colour of the Flemish nationalists New-Flemish Alliance (N-VA) is yellow. No consistent colour is used for the right-wing nationalist Vlaams Belang, colour used in media or campaigns include white, purple, brown and yellow. Both socialist parties, PS and SP.A, use the traditional red.
In Canada, the official colour for the social-democratic New Democratic Party is orange, while the Liberal Party of Canada uses red, the Conservative Party of Canada uses blue, and the Bloc Québécois uses a light blue, the same colour as the Quebec provincial flag.
In Czech Republic, the new official colour for the centre-left Czech Social Democratic Party is orange. Until 2006 it was red and green colour.
For much of the nineteenth century, the 'blues' in both France and Italy were moderate reforming conservatives, while the absolutist monarchists were whites.
In Germany, the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) are traditionally branded red while the conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU) are black and orange. The Christian Social Union of Bavaria, regional sister party of the CDU, uses light blue. The conservative liberal Free Democratic Party (FDP) are yellow, Alliance '90/The Greens are unsurprisingly green and the socialist Die Linke (The Left) are officially red, although given maroon or purple colours by the media in order to differentiate them from the SPD.
In Mexico, the leftist PRD uses yellow. The Right-Wing PAN uses blue and white, the colours of the Virgin of Guadalupe, symbol of Mexican Catholicism.
In the Netherlands, three parties use green; the centre-left Democrats 66 use light green and both the Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA) and animal-rights party Party for the Animals (PvdD) use a darker green. Additionally, GreenLeft uses both green and red to represent its blend of ecologism and leftism. Two parties use red, the social-democrats of the Labour Party (PvdA) and the radical left Socialist Party (SP). SP uses a brighter tomato red mirroring their party logo; PvdA uses the darker red of their logo, a stylised rose and fist. The conservative liberal People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD) uses blue; a governmental coalition involving VVD and PvdA is known as a purple (Paars) government.
In Northern Ireland, the Unionist parties in the Northern Ireland Assembly are called the "orange block" and the Nationalist parties are the "green block".
In Portugal, the centre-right conservative Social Democrat Party (PSD), whose name may cause confusion since it is not social-democratic party, are orange. The Socialist Party (PS) use pink as their campaign colour.
In Taiwan, the leading groups of parties are the more Chinese nationalist Pan-Blue Coalition and the more Taiwanese independence Pan-Green Coalition. The New Party uses yellow as its party colour even though its policies are conservative; the Democratic Progressive Party uses green even though its international alignment is with the Liberal International and not the Green parties.
In the UK (excluding Northern Ireland), where electoral rosettes are commonly worn for campaigns, the Conservatives use blue; Labour, red; and the Liberal Democrats gold, or amber in Scotland. The Labour Party has recently used bold red with yellow lettering in areas of majority Labour support but also more purple tones in marginal Conservative areas. With many other smaller parties choosing their own colour schemes, Independents unsurprisingly use white. The right-wing and eurosceptic UK Independence Party has chosen to use the non-aligned colour purple with yellow. Far right parties such as the British National Party are noted for using the colours of the Union Jack.
- Additionally some of the established political parties use or have used colour variations in their own locality. For instance the traditionally colour of the Penrith and the Border Conservatives is yellow, and not dark blue. Also the traditional colour of the Warwickshire Liberals was green, and not orange/yellow.
In the United States there is no official association between political parties and specific colours. The two major political parties use the national colours — red, white, and blue — to show their patriotism. The only common situation in which it has been necessary to assign a single colour to a party has been in the production of political maps in graphical displays of election results. In such cases, there has historically been no consistent association of particular parties with particular colours. In the weeks following the 2000 election, however, there arose the terminology of blue states and red states, in which the conservative Republican Party was associated with red and the liberal Democratic Party with blue. Political observers subsequently latched on to this association, which resulted from the use of red for Republican victories and blue for Democratic victories on the display map of a television network. This association has certainly not been consistently applied in the past: during previous presidential elections, about half of the television networks used the opposite association. In 2004, the association was mostly kept. However, maps for presidential elections produced by the U.S. government use red for Democrats and blue for Republicans.^{[citation needed]}

There is some historical use of blue for Democrats and red for Republicans — in the late 19th century and early 20th century, Texas county election boards used colour coding to help Spanish speakers and illiterates identify the parties.^[2] However, this system was not applied consistently in Texas and was not picked up on a national level.

Since the 2000 election the news media have tended to use red for Republicans and blue for Democrats, especially as it relates to the electoral majority in each state, informally calling them the Red states and Blue states. The colour green is often used for the Green Party, and the colour gold is often used for the Libertarian Party or for independent candidates generally. A February 2004 article in the New York Times examined this issue.^[3]

List of colours associated with different parties in various countries

Bahrain

Wa'ad: orange

Belgium

Christian Democratic and Flemish: orange
Ecolo and Green!: green
Flemish Liberals and Democrats (OpenVLD): navy blue, gold
Humanist Democratic Centre: maroon and orange red
National Front: Belgium flag colours
New-Flemish Alliance: black and yellow
Reformist Movement: blue, yellow and magenta
Socialist Party (francophone Belgium): red
Socialist Party - Different: red
Social Liberal Party: cyaan
Vivant: gold and sea-green
Vlaams Belang: yellow and black

Brazil

Workers' Party (Brazil): red
Brazilian Democratic Movement Party: green, yellow
Brazilian Social Democracy Party: blue, yellow

Bulgaria

Union of Democratic Forces (Bulgaria): blue
National Movement Simeon II: yellow
Bulgarian Socialist Party: red
National Union Attack: white, green, red (national colours, official); black (non-official)
Democrats for a Strong Bulgaria: dark blue

Republic of China

Pan-blue coalition (blue):

Kuomintang : blue
People First Party: orange
New Party: yellow

Pan-green coalition (green):

Democratic Progressive Party: green
Taiwan Solidarity Union: light brown

Canada

Bloc Québécois: light blue
Canadian Action Party: blue, red
Canadian Alliance (now defunct): green, blue
Christian Heritage Party: purple
Communist Party: red
Conservative Party of Canada: blue (with red trim)
Green Party of Canada: Green
Liberal Party of Canada: red
Libertarian Party: green, white
Marijuana Party: brown, green
Marxist-Leninist Party: violet
New Democratic Party: orange and green
Progressive Canadian Party: blue, red
Progressive Conservative Party of Canada (now defunct): blue and red

Colombia

Denmark

Conservative People's Party (Det Konservative Folkeparti): Green
Red-Green Alliance (Enhedslisten): Red and Green
Social Democrats (Socialdemokratiet): Red
Social-Liberal Party (Det Radikale Venstre): Medium blue
Socialist People's Party (Det Socialistiske Folkeparti): Red
The Liberals (Venstre): Blue

Estonia

Estonian Reform Party : Blue and Yellow
Estonian Centre Party : Green
Union of Pro Patria and Res Publica : Blue
Social Democratic Party : Red
Estonian Greens : Green
People's Union of Estonia : Blue and Gold
Party of Estonian Christian Democrats : Blue and Red
Estonian Independence Party : Cornflower blue

Finland

National Coalition Party (Kansallinen Kokoomus/Nationella Samlingspartiet): Blue
Christian Democrats (Kristillisdemokraatit/Kristdemokraterna): Blue and Orange
The Liberals (Liberaalit/Liberalerna): Yellow
Centre Party (Suomen Keskusta/Centern i Finland): Green
Social Democratic Party of Finland (Suomen Sosialidemokraattinen Puolue/Finlands Socialdemokratiska Parti): Red
Swedish People's Party (Ruotsalainen Kansanpuolue/Svenska Folkpartiet): Red and Yellow
Left Alliance (Vasemmistoliitto/Vänsterförbundet): Red
Green League (Vihreä liitto|Gröna Förbundet): Green

France

Democratic Movement: orange
French Communist Party: red
The Greens: green
Left Radical Party: light pink, gold
Liberal Alternative: purple
National Front: brown or black
National Republican Movement: brown
Party of the Workers: dark red
Revolutionary Communist League: dark red
Socialist Party: pink
Union for a Popular Movement: blue
Workers' Struggle: dark red

Germany

Alliance '90/The Greens: green
Christian Democratic Union (CDU): black
Christian Social Union of Bavaria (CSU): black (sometimes grey)
Free Democratic Party (FDP): yellow
Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD): red
The Left: magenta or dark red or pink
National Democratic Party: brown

Greece

ND (Nea Dimokratia): blue
PASOK (Panellinion Sosialistikon Kinima): green
KKE (Kommounistikon Komma Ellados): red
SYN (Synaspismos): multiple colours
LAOS (Laikos Orthodoxos Synagermos): blue, white
Oikologoi: green

Guinea

PUP: Green
RPG: Yellow
UFP: Blue

Hong Kong

Pro-democracy:

Association for Democracy and People's Livelihood: green-yellow
Civic Party: purple
Democratic Party: green
League of Social Democrats: red
The Frontier: yellow

Pro-Beijing:

The Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong: red-blue
Liberal Party: sky blue, yellow, white, red

Hungary

Alliance of Free Democrats (SZDSZ): blue, blue-white
Christian Democratic People's Party (KDNP): Blue
Hungarian Democratic Forum (MDF): green, green-white
Hungarian Socialist Party (MSZP): red
Fidesz – Hungarian Civic Union: orange

India

Communists (CPI, CPI(M), etc.): red
Hindu nationalists (Bharatiya Janata Party, RSS, Shiv Sena, etc.): saffron^[1]
Indian National Congress (and split-offs like NCP, NTC, etc.): orange-white-green
Bahujan Samaj Party, Republican Party of India (parties representing dalits): blue
Rashtriya Janata Dal: green
Janata Dal (Secular): green
Telugu Desam Party: yellow
Jammu and Kashmir National Conference: red
Telangana Rashtra Samithi: pink
Gorkha National Liberation Front: green
Indigenous Nationalist Party of Twipra: green-white

Italy

The People of the Freedom: blue
Democratic Party (Italy): green, secondly red
Northern League: dark green
Italy of Values: light blue
Union of Christian and Centre Democrats: white, secondly lihgt blue
Communist Refoundation Party: red

Republic of Ireland

Fianna Fáil: green, orange
Fine Gael: blue, green
Green Party: gold, light green
Labour Party: red
Progressive Democrats: blue
Sinn Féin: green
Socialist Party: red, black

Israel

Hadash: red
Meretz-Yachad: green and yellow
The Greens: green
National Union: orange

Lebanon

Luxembourg

Christian Social People's Party: Orange
Luxembourg Socialist Workers' Party: Red
Democratic Party: Blue
The Greens: Green

Republic of Macedonia

Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization–Democratic Party for Macedonian National Unity: red, yellow and black
Social Democratic Union of Macedonia: blue, yellow and red
New Social Democratic Party: blue and yellow

Malta

Mexico

PRI Partido Revolucionario Institucional (Revolutionary Institutional Party): Red, white and Green
PRD Partido de la Revolución Democrática (Democratic Revolution Party)Yellow and Black
PAN Partido Acción Nacional (National Action Party) Blue and White
PT Partido del Trabajo (Labour Party) Red
PVEM Partido Verde Ecologista de México (Ecologist Green Party of Mexico) Green
PCD Partido Convergencia para la Democracia (Democratic Convergence Party) Orange and Blue

Netherlands

Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA): green, orange
ChristianUnion: light-blue
Democrats 66 (D66): light-green
GreenLeft: green, red
Labour Party (PvdA): red
Party for the Animals (PvdD): dark green
People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD): dark-blue
Party for Freedom (PVV): red, white, blue
Reformed Political Party (SGP): orange, blue
Socialist Party (SP): tomato red

Norway

Centre Party (Sp): Green
Christian Democratic Party (KrF): Yellow/Orange
Green Party: Green
Høyre - Conservative Party of Norway (H): Blue
Norwegian Labour Party (DNA): Red
Progress Party (FrP): Red/White/Dark Blue
Red Electoral Alliance (RV): Red
Socialist Left Party (SV): Red and Green
Venstre- Liberal Party of Norway (V): Green

New Zealand

ACT New Zealand: yellow and blue
Alliance: green and red
Green Party: green
Maori Party: red and black
Labour Party: red
Progressive Party: red and grey
National Party: blue
New Zealand First: black and white
United Future: purple and green
Workers Party of New Zealand: red

Peru

Partido Aprista Peruano APRA (Peruvian Aprista Party): Red
Partido Popular Cristiano PPC (Christian People's Party): Green and Red
Solidaridad Nacional (National Solidarity): Yellow
Alianza por el Futuro (Alliance for the Future): Orange
Peru Posible (Possible Peru): Green and Yellow

Poland

Civic Platform: blue and orange
Law and Justice: dark blue
Polish People's Party: green
Real Politics Union: blue, white, black

Portugal

Socialist Party (PS): pink
Social Democratic Party (PSD): orange
Democratic and Social Center / People's Party (CDS/PP): blue
Portuguese Communist Party (PCP): red
The Greens: green
Left Bloc: red, black
New Democracy: red, blue
National Renewal Party (PNR): blue, red, black

Romania

Social Democratic Party: red
National Liberal Party : yellow, blue
Democratic Party: orange
Greater Romania Party: blue, yellow, red
Democratic Union of Hungarians in Romania: green, red

Serbia

Sierra Leone

All People's Congress: red
People's Movement for Democratic Change: orange
Sierra Leone People's Party: green

Spain

People's Party (PP): blue, orange
Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE): red
United Left: green
Galician Nationalist Bloc: red, sky blue
Basque Nationalist Party: red, green
Canarian Coalition: yellow, blue
Convergence and Union: navy blue
Republican Left of Catalonia: black, orange
Union, Progress and Democracy: magenta

Sri Lanka

Sweden

Alliance for Sweden: orange
- Centre Party: green
- Christian Democrats: blue and white
- Liberal People's Party: blue and orange
- Moderate Party: blue
Green Party: green
June List: orange
Left Party: red
People's Front: yellow & black
Pirate Party: purple
Sweden Democrats: blue and yellow
Swedish Social Democratic Party: red

Switzerland

Christian Democratic People's Party of Switzerland: orange
Evangelical People's Party of Switzerland: blue and yellow
Free Democratic Party of Switzerland: dark blue, yellow
Green Party of Switzerland: green
Liberal Party of Switzerland: blue
Social Democratic Party of Switzerland: red
Swiss People's Party: dark green

Turkey

Republican People's Party: red, white
Justice and Development Party: white, orange
Nationalist Movement Party: white, crimson
Democratic Party: white, red
Democratic Left Party: deep sky blue
True Path Party: red
Social Democratic People's Party: red and green
Liberal Democratic Party: dark blue
Workers' Party: red and yellow
Communist Party of Turkey: red, yellow
Motherland Party: green, formerly yellow
Democratic People's Party: gold
Young Party: red, white

Ukraine

Party of Regions: blue
Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc: white and red
Our Ukraine–People's Self-Defense Bloc: orange
Communist Party of Ukraine: red
Lytvyn Bloc: yellow
Socialist Party of Ukraine: pink
Party of Greens of Ukraine: green

United Kingdom

British National Party: red, white and blue
Conservative Party: blue
Co-operative Party: dark grey
Green Party of England and Wales: green
Labour Party: red
Left List: red or red and green
Liberal Democrats: gold
Monster Raving Loony Party: yellow and black primary, green and purple additional
Scottish National Party: yellow
Plaid Cymru: yellow
RESPECT Renewal: green and maroon
UK Independence Party: mauve and gold

United States

Proggresive Labor Party, Communist Party USA, Socialist Party, Socialist Workers Party, Vermont Progressive Party: red
Constitution Party: red, white, and blue, unofficially purple.
Democratic Party: associated with blue (see discussion above)
Green Party: No single official colour, but associated with green
Libertarian Party: No single official colour, but increasingly associated with gold
Reform Party: red and blue
Modern Whig Party: blue and buff, based on original colours of the whiggamores.
Republican Party: associated with red (see discussion above)

Uruguay

Colorado Party: red. During the war of Carpintería, the group led by Fructuoso Rivera thought of using sky blue vinchas, but that tincture degraded quickly. Therefore, it was decided to choose red instead, which was also easy to get from blood.
National Party: white, usually mixed with sky blue
Broad Front: red, blue and white, the same colours used by José Gervasio Artigas.
Independent Party: violet and yellow

Venezuela

COPEI: green
United Socialist Party of Venezuela: red

Yugoslavia

League of Communists of Yugoslavia: red

Shirts associated with right-wing parties

In the first half of the twentieth century, various fascist and other right-wing groups adopted political uniforms and were often nicknamed according to the colour of their shirts:

Blackshirts: Italian camicia nera, British Union of Fascists, German Schutzstaffel
Brownshirts: German Sturmabteilung
Blueshirts: Spanish Falange, Irish Army Comrades Association, the Italian nationalists under Luigi Federzoni, National Syndicalists of Portugal and the Blue Shirts Society of Republic of China.
Gold shirts of Mexico
Greenshirts: Kibbo Kift, or, alternately, Brazilian Integralists, also the Stahlhelm under Alfred Hugenberg and the Hungarian National Socialist Agricultural Labourers and Workers Party. Also the colour of the National Corporate Party of Ireland, the successor to the Irish Army Comrades Association and the Blueshirts.
Greyshirts of South Africa
Silvershirts: Silver Legion of America
Descamisados ("Shirtless Ones"): Argentine Peronists

References

^ ^a ^b Véronique Bénéï (2005). Manufacturing Citizenship: education and nationalism in Europe, South Asia and China. Routledge. ISBN 0415364884.
^ http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/RR/pqrsu.html
^ http://www.uselectionatlas.org/INFORMATION/ARTICLES/redblue.php

[Saffron-1] Véronique Bénéï (2005). Manufacturing Citizenship: education and nationalism in Europe, South Asia and China. Routledge. ISBN 0415364884.

[2] ttp://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/RR/pqrsu.html

[3] ttp://www.uselectionatlas.org/INFORMATION/ARTICLES/redblue.php

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