  in politics, a red flag is a symbol of socialism, communism, and left-wing politics; it has been associated with left-wing politics since the french revolution (1789â99).brink, jan ten robespierre and the red terror, 1899. socialists adopted the symbol during the revolutions of 1848 and it became a symbol of communism as a result of its use by the paris commune of 1871. the flags of several communist states, including china, vietnam and the soviet union, are explicitly based on the original red flag. the red flag is also used as a symbol by some democratic socialists and social democrats, for example the avami national party of pakistan, french socialist party and the social democratic party of germany. the labour party in britain used it until the late 1980s. it was the inspiration for the socialist anthem, the red flag. ==history==  in the middle ages, ships in combat flew a long red streamer, called the baucans, to signify a fight to the death.flags of the world, "baucans (or bauccedillian)". in one petition, a group of english sailors asserted that the crown had no right to a share of the prize money earned from a norman ship captured in 1293 because it had raised the baucans.marsden, r.g., "early prize jurisdiction and prize law in england" (1909)perrin, w.g. british flags: their early history and their development at sea; with an account of the origin of the flag as a national device (1922) p, 161. (raising this streamer may have been a relatively novel practice at this time, since the writers feel the need to explain it.) by the 17th century, the baucans had evolved into a red flag, or "flag of defiance."1602 dekker satirom. wks. 1873 i. 233 what, dost summon a parlie, my little drumsticke? tis too late: thou seest my red flag is hung out.1666 lond. gaz. no. 91/4 that the red flag was out, both fleets in sight of each other, expecting every hour fit weather to engage.flags of the world, "[http://www.crwflags.com/fotw/flags/vxt-dvf3.html#flagofdefiance flag
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