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History Fasci Siciliani Biennio Rosso XVII Congress of the PSI I Congress of the PCd'I Proština rebellion Aventine Secession Italian Resistance Red Republic of Caulonia Third De Gasperi government Portella della Ginestra massacre May 1947 crises Manifesto of the 101 Years of Lead Hot Autumn Primavalle fire Assassination of Sergio Ramelli Moro case Mitterrand doctrine Movement of 1977 Historic Compromise
Ideologies Anarchist communism Autonomism Bordigism Christian communism Council communism Eurocommunism Italian road to socialism Left communism Leninism Marxism–Leninism Maoism Stalinism Marxist humanism Migliorismo Neo-Gramscianism Neo-Marxism Post-Marxism Trotskyism Western Marxism Workerism
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Current organisations Anticapitalist Left CARC Party Communist Alternative Party Communist Front Communist Party Communist Refoundation Party GC Communist Struggle Countercurrent Italian Communist Party (2016) Italian General Confederation of Labour Italian Marxist–Leninist Party Network of Communists People's Union Trotskyist League of Italy Unified Communist Party of Italy Workers' Communist Party
Defunct organisations Armed Proletarians for Communism Autonomia Operaia Communist Party of Italy (2014) Communist Party of Italy (Marxist–Leninist) Communist Party of Italy (Marxist–Leninist) Red Line Critical Left Front Line Italian Communist Party FGCI The Left – The Rainbow Lotta Continua Movement of Unitarian Communists October 22 Group Party of the Christian Left Party of Italian Communists FGCI Popular Democratic Front Proletarian Democracy Proletarian Unity Party Red Brigades Volante Rossa Workers' Power
Media Liberazione il manifesto Pattuglia Il Pioniere Il Politecnico La Plebe Quaderni piacentini Quaderni Rossi Rinascita Società l'Unità Vie Nuove
Related topics Anarchism in Italy Bandiera Rossa Bella ciao Christian left Christian socialism Democratic socialism Fischia il vento History of Italy Italian neorealism Politics of Italy Prison Notebooks Socialism in Italy Craxism
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Bandiera Rossa (Italian, 'Red Flag'), often also called Avanti Popolo after its opening words (also to avoid any confusion with Le tre bandiere, another socialist song), is one of the most famous songs of the Italian labour movement. It glorifies the red flag, symbol of the socialist and communist movements. The text was written by Carlo Tuzzi in 1908; the melody is taken from two Lombard folk songs.

Apart from the first Italian text, there are several variants which are identified with certain socialist or communist parties. The last two lines "Evviva il comunismo e la libertà" were put in the text after the rise of Benito Mussolini; at the same time the original beginning "Compagni avanti alla riscossa" was changed to "Avanti o popolo, alla riscossa". Also, the word "comunismo" at the end of the chorus is often replaced with "socialismo", especially in more recent renderings of the song.

Bandiera Rossa was notably quoted in Frederic Rzewski's piano works The People United Will Never Be Defeated! and No Place to Go but Around.

Notable covers of the song were made by the Slovenian punk-rock band Pankrti in 1984 on the Rdeči album (Red album),^[1][2] as well as the Croatian punk-rock band KUD Idijoti in 1990, on their album Mi smo ovdje samo zbog para (We are only here for the money). Scottish band, Tarneybackle released a version of the song as part of a medley of Spanish Civil War music.^[3] The song also appears on UK punk band Angelic Upstarts' 2002 album Sons of Sparticus.

The title of the 1986 Israeli film Avanti Popolo is taken from the song. The film's protagonists – Israeli and Egyptian soldiers, particularly unheroic in their attitudes and actions, wander the Sinai Desert in the aftermath of the 1967 War. In one notable scene, the soldiers facetiously sing the song.

This version was translated for marxists.org by Clara Statello and Mitchell Abidor.^[4]

One of the most widely known Italian songs, Bandiera Rossa has been rendered in several languages including: English,^[5] Serbo-Croatian, Slovenian, German,^[6] French,^[7] Swedish,^[8] Norwegian, Danish,^[9] Turkish,^[10] Kurdish,^[10] Finnish,^[11] Icelandic, Maltese,^[12] Russian,^[11] Esperanto,^[13] Japanese,^[14] Arabic,^[15] Hindi,^[16] Punjabi,^[16] Vietnamese^[17] and Filipino.^[18]

• Workers' Hymn – an earlier Italian socialist anthem
• Bella ciao – another Italian partisan song
• Fischia il vento – another song associated with the Italian partisans
• Siamo i ribelli della montagna [it] – another Italian partisan song
• Zog nit keyn mol – a Yiddish partisan song popularized during World War II

• Elliott, Chris (28 September 2015). "Battle lines drawn over the origins of the Bandiera Rossa". The Guardian.