Wikipedia / Political uniform
Wikipedia / Political uniform
A number of political movements have involved their members wearing uniforms, typically as a way of showing their identity in marches and demonstrationss. The wearing of political uniforms has tended to be associated with radical political beliefs, typically at the far-right or far-left of politics, and can be used to imply a paramilitary type of organization.
A number of countries have legislation banning the wearing of political uniforms. In Germany, political uniforms have been forbidden since the end of the Nazi regime. Political uniforms were forbidden in Sweden during the period 1933–2002. The law existed to prevent Nazi groups from wearing uniforms. In the United Kingdom, the Public Order Act 1936, passed to control extremist political movements in the 1930s such as the British Union of Fascists, banned the wearing of political uniforms during marches. Attempts to legislate against the wearing of political uniform were difficult to implement, due to problems with defining what constitutes political uniform, but also in determining which groups were a threat to public order. Though this has rarely arisen in recent decades, in January 2015 Paul Golding, the leader of Britain First, was convicted for wearing a political uniform. Later in November 2016 the party's deputy leader Jayda Fransen was also convicted for wearing a political uniform.
List of parties with political uniforms
Notable uniformed political groups have included:
The Chinese Communist Party, which dressed its members in green, loose fitting fatigues or the more formal Mao suit
The Brownshirts, or Sturmabteilung, of the Nazi Party
"Blackshirts":
The Iranian Azure Party
The Black Front in the Netherlands
The Black Legion, often nicknamed as the "Blackshirts" or simply "Blacks" in Croatia
The Blackshirts, Fascist paramilitary groups in Fascist Italy
The British Union of Fascists, a fascist political party of the 1930s in the United Kingdom
The Blackshirts, an atheist organisation in India
Golden Dawn, a neo-Nazi political party in Greece
The British National Fascisti
The Peruvian Revolutionary Union
The Russian National Autonomous Party, a party in the Subcarpathian Rus' region within the Second Czechoslovak Republic
The Dutch Weerbaarheidsafdeling
"Blueshirts":
The Blueshirts, or Army Comrades Association, an Irish political organisation set up by General Eoin O'Duffy in 1932
The Blueshirts (Italian Nationalist Association) in Italy
The Chinese Blue Shirt Society, a secret clique within the Kuomintang
The British Fascists, the first avowedly fascist organisation in the United Kingdom
The Falange Militia in Spain
The Lăncieri of the Romanian National-Christian Defense League
The National Syndicalists in Portugal
The National Unity Party in Canada
The Solidarité Française and the Mouvement Franciste in France
"Greenshirts":
The French Comités de défense paysanne in France
The Juventudes de Acción Popular of CEDA in Spain
The Green Shirt Movement for Social Credit in the United Kingdom
The Romanian Iron Guard movement
The Hungarian National Socialist Agricultural Labourers' and Workers' Party
The Greenshirts were a wing of the Irish National Corporate Party
The Flemish Verdinaso in Belgium
"Greyshirts":
The Aria Party in Iran
The Norwegian Fatherland League
The Greyshirts, a South African Nazi organisation
The National League of Sweden originally part of the General Electoral League and later an independent fascist party
The Latvian Pērkonkrusts movement
The Grijze Werfbrigade (Grey Defence Brigade), a Flemish paramilitary organisation of Vlaams Nationaal Verbond, predecessor of the Dietsche Militie that was formed in 1940s
"Redshirts":
The Redshirts that unified Italy
The Ratniks, a Bulgarian national-socialist organisation
The Red Shirts of the Southern United States
The Red Shirts of Mexico
The United Front for Democracy Against Dictatorship in Thailand
Other:
The Russian Black Hundreds also known as "Yellowshirts"
The Brazilian Patrianovist Imperial Action had the Imperial Patrianovist Guard which wore white shirts
Free Peru uses a white shirt with red cuffs
The Gold shirts, a Mexican fascist movement
The League of Nationalist Action also known as Ironshirts in Syria
The New Force in Italy is associated with the "Whiteshirts"
The white uniform of Singapore's People's Action Party
The Proud Boys, an American Neo-fascist militant organization.
Silver Legion of America, commonly known as the Silver Shirts, an American fascist organization founded by William Dudley Pelley
The Syrian Steelshirts
The White Shirts Society, a clandestine fascist terrorist group in South Korea
Political uniforms have sometimes taken the form of headwear:
Red berets were worn as distinguishing devices of the Spanish Carlists
Members of the Provisional Irish Republican Army and Sinn Féin have worn black berets in demonstrations, or black balaclavas for anonymity
Black berets are also worn over hoods by members of ETA
Members of the Swiss neo-Nazi group wear forest green colored balaclavas with a large white Tiwaz rune on them.
Atomwaffen Division members are known for wearing skull mask neck gaiters/balaclavas. This signature face covering has also been adopted by other neo-Nazi groups like The Base as well as militant far-right and neo-fascist sympathizers in general.
The MAGA Hat of the MAGA movement worn by Trump supporters and the Trumpist faction of the Republican Party (United States).
Other uniformed movements:
Black Sash a non-violent white women's anti-apartheid organization in South Africa
Ku Klux Klan in the United States
Britain First, a far-right group who wear green jackets and flat caps
Fruit of Islam, the paramilitary wing of the Nation of Islam.
The Brown Berets
Yellow vests movement, a populist political movement that began in France in 2018.
Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging, a neo-Nazi Afrikaner nationalist political organization in South Africa.
Reform UK Far-right UK political party who wear football shirts with their party name on.
The youth sections of some political movements have also been uniformed:
Hitler Youth (the youth wing of the German Nazi Party)
Gioventù Italiana del Littorio, youth organization of the Italian National Fascist Party
Komsomol, youth organization in the Soviet Union
the International Falcon Movement has many branches around the world with some having uniforms and being to varying degrees associated with political parties, the Swedish Branch Örnar|Unga Örnar had uniforms until the ban on uniforms in 1933 by the Swedish Social Democratic Party which led to them splitting from it. In Austria, they maintain their connection to the SPÖ and have a blue uniform with a red tie
Pancasila Youth, Indonesian far-right paramilitary organization
The youth wing of the Egyptian Wafd Party wore uniforms and were called Blueshirts
See also
The Black Shorts, a parody of fascist uniforms in the Jeeves novels of P. G. Wodehouse.
References