The Red Flag Party ( es, Partido Bandera Roja) is a

communist party A communist party is a political party that seeks to realize the socio-economic goals of communism. The term ''communist party'' was popularized by the title of ''The Manifesto of the Communist Party'' (1848) by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. A ...

Venezuela Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...

. Formed in 1970 by

anti-revisionist Anti-revisionism is a position within Marxism–Leninism which emerged in the 1950s in opposition to the reforms of Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev. Where Khrushchev pursued an interpretation that differed from his predecessor Joseph Stalin, ...

members of the Revolutionary Left Movement (MIR), the party initially supported the

ideology An ideology is a set of beliefs or philosophies attributed to a person or group of persons, especially those held for reasons that are not purely epistemic, in which "practical elements are as prominent as theoretical ones." Formerly applied pri ...

Enver Hoxha Enver Halil Hoxha ( , ; 16 October 190811 April 1985) was an Albanian communist politician who was the authoritarian ruler of Albania from 1944 until his death in 1985. He was First Secretary of the Party of Labour of Albania from 1941 unt ...

and the

Party of Labour of Albania The Party of Labour of Albania ( sq, Partia e Punës e Shqipërisë, PPSh), sometimes referred to as the Albanian Workers' Party (AWP), was the ruling and sole legal party of Albania during the communist period (1945–1991). It was founded o ...

following the Sino-Albanian split, though in later years it gravitated back towards

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

. In the 1970s up until the 1990s, it was engaged in

guerrilla warfare Guerrilla warfare is a form of irregular warfare in which small groups of combatants, such as paramilitary personnel, armed civilians, or Irregular military, irregulars, use military tactics including ambushes, sabotage, Raid (military), raids ...

against the government. A young

Hugo Chávez Hugo Rafael Chávez Frías (; 28 July 1954 – 5 March 2013) was a Venezuelan politician who was president of Venezuela from 1999 until his death in 2013, except for a brief period in 2002. Chávez was also leader of the Fifth Republ ...

's first assignment in the

Venezuelan Army The Venezuelan Army, officially the National Army of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, Ejército Nacional de la República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is one of the six professional branches of the Armed Forces of Venezuela. Also known ...

was as commander of a communications

platoon A platoon is a military unit typically composed of two or more squads, sections, or patrols. Platoon organization varies depending on the country and the branch, but a platoon can be composed of 50 people, although specific platoons may range ...

attached to a

counter-insurgency Counterinsurgency (COIN) is "the totality of actions aimed at defeating irregular forces". The Oxford English Dictionary defines counterinsurgency as any "military or political action taken against the activities of guerrillas or revolutionar ...

force—the Manuel Cedeño Mountain Infantry Battalion, headquartered in Barinas and Cumaná. In 1976, under the presidency of

Carlos Andrés Pérez Carlos Andrés Pérez Rodríguez (27 October 1922 – 25 December 2010) also known as CAP and often referred to as '' El Gocho'' (due to his Andean origins), was a Venezuelan politician and the president of Venezuela from 12 March 1974 to 12 M ...

it was tasked with suppressing the guerrilla insurgency staged by the party. The Red Flag Party is currently led by Gabriel Rafael Puerta Aponte. After the electoral victory of Chávez in 1998, the party started aligning itself with the

liberal Liberal or liberalism may refer to: Politics * a supporter of liberalism ** Liberalism by country * an adherent of a Liberal Party * Liberalism (international relations) * Sexually liberal feminism * Social liberalism Arts, entertainment and m ...

and

social democratic Social democracy is a political, social, and economic philosophy within socialism that supports political and economic democracy. As a policy regime, it is described by academics as advocating economic and social interventions to promote soci ...

opponents of Chávez, labeling him as a

social fascist Social fascism (also socio-fascism) was a theory that was supported by the Communist International (Comintern) and affiliated communist parties in the early 1930s that held that social democracy was a variant of fascism because it stood in the way ...

. This has led to desertions from the party as many cadres instead joined the Chávez camp. The party was suspended from the

International Conference of Marxist–Leninist Parties and Organizations (Unity & Struggle) The International Conference of Marxist–Leninist Parties and Organizations ( es, Conferencia Internacional de Partidos y Organizaciones Marxista-Leninistas; abbreviations: ICMLPO or CIPOML) is an international organization of anti-revisionis ...

in 2005. It was succeeded within the organization by the Marxist–Leninist Communist Party of Venezuela. In the 2006 presidential election, the Red Flag Party supported the candidature of Manuel Rosales. The party got 18,468 votes (0.16% of the nationwide vote) in that election as one of several parties backing Rosales. As of 2009, its popularity has rapidly diminished from its prior years and is reported to have less than 100

militant The English word ''militant'' is both an adjective and a noun, and it is generally used to mean vigorously active, combative and/or aggressive, especially in support of a cause, as in "militant reformers". It comes from the 15th century Latin " ...

members. In 2014 party left Democratic Unity Table due to not disagreeing over objectives and not considering the coalition capable of placing itself on the forefront of people's struggles.

Youth wing

The youth wing of the party is the Revolutionary Youth Union (UJR).

Website

Official website

Official blog

References

1970 establishments in Venezuela Anti-revisionist organizations Communist parties in Venezuela Hoxhaist parties Political parties established in 1970 Political parties in Venezuela Stalinist parties {{Venezuela-party-stub