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Progressive Labor Party (U.S.)

image by Tomislav Todorovic, 8 August 2015

Introduction:
Description of Flag
Previous flag designs

See also:

Introduction: New American Regeneration Party

Progressive Labor Party was founded in 1962 as the Progressive Labor Movement, following a split in the Communist Party USA which took place in the previous year, and adopted its current name in 1965. It is a Marxist-Leninist party with the goal of leading a Communist revolution, not only in the USA, but also worldwide. Unlike the other Communist organizations, they insist that the revolution should not result in the establishing of Socialism, which is viewed as the transitional phase in classic Marxist political theory, but in direct introduction of Communism, for they consider that the Socialism must lead to eventual renewal of Capitalism, as has happened in all Socialist countries, even those which still denote themselves as such.

Sources:
[1] Progressive Labor Party at Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Progressive_Labor_Party_%28United_States%29
[2] Progressive Labor Party website: http://www.plp.org/
Tomislav Todorovic, 8 August 2015

Description of Flag

Flag of Progressive Labor Party is red, sometimes dark yellow, with the party emblem depicted in black color in center. The emblem consists of a clenched fist drawn over an outlined five-pointed star, with the initials PLP beneath it; the device is surrounded with two inscriptions, FIGHT FOR COMMUNISM above and LUCHE POR EL COMUNISMO below. The ratio is almost invariably 1:2.

Sources:
[1] Progressive Labor Party website - photo gallery from May Day 2008 protests: http://www.plp.org/photo-gallery/may-day-2008/
[2] Progressive Labor Party website - photo gallery from May Day 2010 protests: http://www.plp.org/photo-gallery/may-day-2010/
[3] Progressive Labor Party website - photo gallery from May Day 2012 protests: http://www.plp.org/photo-gallery/may-day-2012/
[4] Flickr photo album from the rally on 2010-10-02 in Washington, DC - page 7: https://www.flickr.com/photos/n3tel/albums/72157625082478190/page7
[5] Flickr photo album from the rally on 2010-10-02 in Washington, DC - page 8: https://www.flickr.com/photos/n3tel/albums/72157625082478190/page8
Tomislav Todorovic, 8 August 2015

Previous flag designs

The original party flag was nearly square, without the party name initials beneath the star and fist, while the inscriptions were FIGHT FOR SOCIALISM above the emblem and PROGRESSIVE LABOR PARTY beneath it. The field seems to have been invariably red. Photos of such flags can be found here:
http://www.bibliomania.ws/shop/bibliomania/61203.html
http://www.bibliomania.ws/shop/bibliomania/61204.html
and they reveal that the length was not always greater than the width, but the opposite was also possible. A photo of enlarged emblem detail is available here:
https://medium.com/@paulschatzkin/port-huron-revisited-92b4cfe74f3 (image: https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1200/1*umnxbSpVNwq3y6W2LN2V2w.jpeg)

image by Tomislav Todorovic, 10 December 2017

The succeeding design has changed the top inscription into FIGHT FOR COMMUNISM, in accordance with the rejection of Socialism as the goal of revolution (see message #204775). Some of these flags are still used; their photos, dating from the May Day 2012, can be found here:
http://www.plp.org/photo-gallery/may-day-2012/14545500
http://www.plp.org/photo-gallery/may-day-2012/14545515
http://www.plp.org/photo-gallery/may-day-2012/14545517

Along with the party's growing insistence on anti-racism and anti-nationalism, the flags with inscriptions in Spanish - LUCHE POR EL COMUNISMO and PARTIDO LABORAL PROGRESISTA, respectively - were also introduced. A photo can be found here:
https://www.abebooks.com/servlet/BookDetailsPL?bi=22447871784&cm_sp=collections-_-2enYtDLLlxoLtmaqlGQRPR_item_1_42-_-bdp

Some of these flags are still in use as well; their photos, taken in Los Angeles, California on May Day 2014, can be found here:
http://nearchaosblog.com/post/84535168298/maydayla2014
(image #1: http://78.media.tumblr.com/07597b91e3e54157d61c5d9d0b7d7ab3/tumblr_inline_n4yj2qmxNw1rvl4dr.jpg)
(image #2: http://78.media.tumblr.com/782979a292ac40ec0dc2fda564d5ff5a/tumblr_inline_n4yj6bCiKE1rvl4dr.jpg)

TThe adoption of current design probably occurred some time during the 2000s, given that bilingual flags were well established by 2008-2010 and the monolingual ones are still in limited use.
Tomislav Todorovic, 10 December 2017