From a post on /r/leftistvexillology/

"Capitalism, fascism, reaction; beat the three and humanity is free!"

.......

"Of course, the three arrows representing the struggle against capitalism, fascism and reaction have quickly found their way into other social democratic parties."

:stalin-stressed: :stalin-stressed: :stalin-stressed:

That election poster that gets thrown around alot is just that. An election poster where the socialdemocrats were trying to position themselves as the preservers of the democratic republic(which should be remembered, had not existed for long). It's not the only way to interpret the symbol.

https://www.reddit.com/r/leftistvexillology/comments/dx5jky/three_arrows_without_the_big_lib/

What do you think? What do you associate the arrows with? I always assumed it was 'down with monarchism, Nazism, and capitalism' before reading that thread. It's amazing how fast the meaning of the symbol was co-opted and altered (although notable that not everyone recognizes it as such).

  • asaharyev [he/him]
    ·
    4 years ago

    I've looked into this a bit due to the resurgence of the Three Arrows as an antifascist symbol in American soccer circles.

    The original use of the logo was only counter to Nazis. It would be displayed like this, three arrows striking through a swastika. It was originally inspired by Soviet avant-garde artwork.

    It later became used for a variety of meanings. I've seen the arrows used to be against reaction, monarchism, religion, papism, Nazism, capital, and communism.

    The most popular use was by the Iron Front, against monarchism, Nazism, and Stalinism. They also were in opposition too the German communists, who stood in solidarity with the Soviet Union. It's basically synonymous with the Iron Front at this point.

    I'd love to be able to take the image back as a symbol of antifascism, anti-reaction, and anti-capitalism, but I think the history is too tied to the Social Democrats who allied with the Freikorps and assisted the rise of fascism in Germany.

    I'm gonna keep using it in certain contexts, with the hopes that the meaning shifts for modern usage. It's clean and easy to add to shit, rather than the red and black flags of Antifaschistische Action.