Political Colour - General Trends

General Trends

Colours are listed here in alphabetical order.

• Black is primarily associated with anarchism (see anarchist symbolism) and fascism (see blackshirts).
  • Anti-clerical parties in the late 19th and early 20th centuries sometimes used the colour black in reference to the officials of the Catholic Church, because the cassock is usually black.
  • In Germany and Austria, black is the colour historically associated with Christian-democratic parties.
  • In Italy, black is the colour of fascism, because it was the official colour of the National Fascist Party.
  • In the Islamic world, black flags (often with a white shahadah) are sometimes used by Islamist groups. Black was the colour of the Abbasid caliphate.
• Blue, particularly dark blue, is usually associated with conservative parties, originating from its use by that party of the United Kingdom.
  • The field of the flag of the United Nations is light blue, chosen to represent peace and hope. It has given rise to the term bluewashing.
  • In the United States, since the year 2000, the mass media have associated blue with the Democratic Party, even though the Democratic Party is a left-leaning party. In 2010, the party unveiled a blue official logo.
• Brown has been associated with Nazism, because the Sturmabteilung (SA) were called "brownshirts." In Europe and elsewhere, the colour brown is sometimes used to refer to fascists in general.
• Gray is sometimes used by parties that represent the interests of pensioners and senior citizens, such as "The Grays" in Germany. It can also be used to refer to reactionary movements, due to its association with the Confederate States of America.
• Green is the colour for green politics and environmentalist movements 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.
  • Irish Nationalist and Irish Republican movements have used the colour green.
  • Green has sometimes also been linked to agrarian movements, such as the Populist Party in the US in the 1890s, and the current-day Nordic Agrarian parties.
  • Green, considered the holy colour of Islam, is also used by some Islamists, such as Hamas.
  • Fern Green is occasionally used by political organisations and groups who advocate the legalisation of Medicinal use of Marijuana.
• Orange is the traditional colour of the Christian democrats, and it can also represent various kinds of populist parties. Such is the case in Germany, France, Portugal, Switzerland, Finland, Hungary, Slovakia, Czech Republic and Bolivia.
  • In Canada, orange is the colour of the New Democratic Party (NDP), a social-democratic party. Most social-democratic parties around the world use red or pink, but in Canada the colour red was already long associated with the Liberals when the NDP was founded.
  • In Ukraine, orange was the colour of liberal groups that participated in the "Orange Revolution". This gave the colour orange a certain association with radical anti-authoritarian politics in some countries, and it has been used as such by groups and organizations in the Middle East – for example in Lebanon, the Palestinian Authority, Egypt, Bahrain and Israel.
  • In Colombia orange is unofficially associated with Social Party of National Unity, a liberal conservative Uribist party.
  • In Northern Ireland, orange is associated with Unionism and the Orange Order.
  • In the United Kingdom, orange was the colour of the historical Liberal Party and their Whig predecessors.
  • In Israel, orange is linked to anti-disengagement rallies and other right wing and pro-settlement activity.
  • In New Zealand, orange cannot be used by any political party; it is exclusively used by the Electoral Commission.
• Pink is sometimes used by Social Democrats, such as in France and Portugal. The more traditional colour of social democracy is red (because social democracy is descended from the democratic socialist movement), but some countries have large social-democratic parties alongside large socialist or communist parties, so that it would be confusing for them all to use red. In such cases, social democrats are usually the ones who give up red in favour of a different colour. Pink is often chosen because it is seen as a softer, less aggressive version of red, in the same way that social democracy is more centrist and less militant than socialism.
  • In some European nations (as well as in the United States), pink is associated with homosexuality and the pink flag is used as a symbol in support of civil rights for LGBT people. This goes back to the Nazi German policy of assigning pink triangles to homosexual prisoners.
• Purple is the most prominent colour that is not traditionally connected to any major ideology. As such, it is sometimes used to represent a mix of different ideologies, or new protest movements that are critical of all previously-existing parties.
  • In Europe, purple has been used to represent the 'Purple governments' of Belgium and the Netherlands, formed by an alliance of 'red' social-democratic and 'blue' liberal parties.
  • Purple is also the colour of the original Swedish Pirate Party and several of its international sister parties.
  • In Italy, purple has been adopted by anti-Silvio Berlusconi protesters (see Purple people) as an alternative from other colors and political parties.
  • Purple is also unofficially used in the United States to denote a "swing state" (i.e., one contested frequently between the Republican Party, whose unofficial colour is red, and the Democratic Party, whose unofficial colour is blue.) It has also been used to reference Purple America, a term used in contrast to "blue" or "red", noting the electoral differences nationwide are observed more on discrepancies instead of unity.
• Red is traditionally associated with socialism and communism. The oldest symbol of socialism (and, by extension, communism) is the Red Flag, which dates back to the revolutions of 1848. The colour red was chosen to represent the blood of the workers who died in the struggle against capitalism. All major socialist and communist alliances and organisations – including the First, Second, and Third Internationals – used red as their official colour. The association between the colour red and communism is particularly strong. Communists use red much more often and more extensively than other ideologies use their respective traditional colours.
  • In Europe and Latin America, red is also associated with parties of social democracy, and often their allies within the labour movement. Sometimes these parties use pink instead, as a "moderate" colour instead of the more "radical" red.
  • In Canada, red has always been associated with the Liberal Party of Canada, because one of its predecessors was the Parti rouge (French for "Red Party").
  • In the United States, since the year 2000, the mass media have associated red with the Republican Party, despite the fact that the Republican Party is a conservative-leaning party. Since at least 2010, the party has adopted an all red logo.
• White is today mainly linked to pacifism (as in the surrender flag) and in politics of the United Kingdom to independent politicians such as Martin Bell.
  • Historically, it was associated with support for absolute monarchy, starting with the supporters of the Bourbon dynasty of France, because it was the dynasty's colour. Later it was used by the Czarist Whites who fought against the communist "Reds" in the Russian Civil War, because the Russian "Whites" had similar goals to the French "Whites" of a century earlier.
  • Because of its use by anti-communist forces in Russia, the colour white came to be associated in the 20th century with many different anti-communist and counter-revolutionary groups, even those that did not support absolute monarchy (for example, the Finnish "Whites" who fought against the socialist "Reds" in the civil war following the independence of Finland). In some revolutions, red is used to represent the revolutionaries and white is used to represent the supporters of the old order, regardless of the ideologies or goals of the two sides.
  • In Italy a red cross on a white shield (scudo crociato) is the emblem of Catholic parties, from the historical Christian Democracy party.
• Yellow is the colour most commonly associated with liberalism in Europe, being the official colour of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe. Yellow is also often associated with libertarianism.
  • Yellow is also associated with Judaism and the Jewish people (see also Yellow badge).
• Saffron represents Hindutva.