With manufacturing less than 5% of workers in core countries, and without a peasantry (more on that in a sec) the hammer and sickle symbol while iconic feels stuck in nostalgia to me. At the same time nothing I can come up with has the same resonance.
However I did come up with something silly I was hoping someone could sketch! Thinking it could be a spatula to represent service workers, a caduceus (shocked i got that right on the first try) to represent care workers over a steering wheel to represent transportation and logistics?
Also to the point about the peasantry, while there aren't peasants in most of the imperial core there is often a group of extremely oppressed non-citizen migrant farm workers whose experience cannot go unacknowledged. A really effective organization committed to justice and some vision of socialism must organize among them too because they deserve dignity and a decent life too.
I don't disagree with any of your points, but this sentence jumped out at me:
Also to the point about the peasantry, while there aren’t peasants in most of the imperial core there is often a group of extremely oppressed non-citizen migrant farm workers whose experience cannot go unacknowledged.
Seems like a sickle would be relevant to them in terms of symbolism, no?
You're absolutely right! I guess I overlooked that because a lot of my ag work has either been in orchards just picking by hand or else mechanized...I haven't actually really seen sickles anywhere. But in terms of symbolism that's absolutely the best thing for it. On the other hand, even including non-citizen farm laborers (really struggling on humanizing wording) ag. makes up less than or about the same share of employment as manufacturing.
Perhaps it's more of a question of what kind of US economy you would like to see. The current economy is riddled with inefficiencies and parasitic sectors. It is filled with make-work desk jobs propped up by the imperialist exploitation of foreign extraction and manufacturing. Are you trying to paint a new logo on the current system, or are you trying to realize a more sustainable future? For me the hammer and sickle is aspirational, and provides a lode star to guide us to a better world.
Maybe not exactly fitting what you describe but I encourage people to check out the Communist Party of Canada's logo for a potential non hammer and sickle logo.
I only believe there will be three possible symbols adopted by a successful communist moment in America, as in, once something has already gained traction enough to represent some large body of working Americans:
- Generic Christian imagery
- Nothing specific to the organization as a whole
- Already existing communist imagery
My idea would be sickle (for the migrant workers who run the remaining agricultural sectors), computer (for our information workers), and maybe either a wrench or a gear for service.
What about instead of a computer, we did something like a microprocessor design.
I can see it somehow incorporating this kind of thing.
https://media.istockphoto.com/vectors/abstract-computer-microprocessor-circuit-board-vector-background-eps-vector-id1181693196
Does it look a little cyberpunk? Sure, but Fully Automated Luxury Space Communism deserves a little cyber punk.
We'd probably want the cables that are reaching out to be a little simpler, but that's a great idea!
I'm imagining it either radiating out from the central image (whatever we choose there), or maybe the main image is offset to the side and the cables run some distance 'away' down the flag.
My personal kick at the can for a design is this thing I whipped up quickly.
I wish I knew how to draw, because that just gave me an idea:
The cables forming a red star with the processor in the center
Ben Garrison of course you know how to draw! Your politics are shit, but at least you know how to draw.
MFW I went out-of-character on drawing...
I...mean....pardon me for not specifying dear fan, I meant that I wish I knew how to draw without giving something a fat ass. Which I would presume would be counterintuitive to the message.
Wow, I can NOT relate to that. Believe it or not, I'm jealous of even your tragic predicament. I can't even draw things with fat asses. Now that is a problem I'm familiar with and have deep empathy for.
I've been thinking about this too, it's a solid question. I think the sickle is too iconic to leave out. I think a gear nicely incorporates both limited manufacturing and tech. I like your notion of the caduceus for care workers, though I worry it would make the final symbol a bit busy. Maybe if we had a simplified version that integrated with the other symbols well. Part of the beauty of :hammer-sickle: is the way that they cross over each other. It's good graphic design imo. Especially the Chinese national sickle tracks as very modern.
I think a gear is a good choice like the Angolan flag, symbolises a wide variety of modern tech jobs as well as manufacturing.
The classic Red Star, imagine a red sun to rival the hogs black sun.
Although given the left's situation, it would be nice to find some other symbols as a bit of a dogwhistle. Something completely innocuous that we can play dumb about when called out.
I made these a few months ago. They still have hammers and sickles, but I spruced them up a bit.
layer a gear over a wheel, and stick with two combined objects crossed but instead bundle a few diffrent objects together and tie them off with a red ribbon.
I have recently been leaning towards a mask.
A mask represents workers right now, and will continue to represent workers for forseeable years to come.
