Political colour

Political colours are colours used to represent a political ideology, movement or party, either officially or unofficially. They represent the intersection of colour symbolism and political symbolism. Politicians making public appearances will often identify themselves by wearing rosettes, flowers, ties or ribbons in the colour of their political party. Parties in different countries with similar ideologies sometimes use similar colours. As an example the colour red symbolises left-wing ideologies in many countries, while the colour blue is often used for conservatism, the colour yellow is most commonly associated with liberalism and right-libertarianism, and Green politics is named after the ideology's political colour.
The political associations of a given colour vary from country to country, and there are exceptions to the general trends, for example red has historically been associated with Christianity, but over time gained association with leftist politics, while the United States differs from other countries in that conservatism is associated with red and liberalism with blue. Mass media has driven a standardisation of colour by political party, to simplify messaging, while historically the colour a candidate chose to identify with could have been chosen based on other factors such as family or regional variations.

Associations of different colours

Black

is primarily associated with anarchism ; black is a lack of colour, and anarchism is a lack of a state. It is used in contrast of national flags, to instead represent universal anarchism. Black is also used to a lesser extent to represent ideologies on the opposite end of the spectrum: fascism and jihadism.
The colours black and red have been used by anarchists since at least the late 1800s when they were used on cockades by Italian anarchists in the 1874 Bologna insurrection, and in 1877 when anarchists entered the Italian town Letino carrying red and black flags to promote the First International. During the Spanish Civil War the CNT used a diagonally half strip of black and red, with black representing anarchism and red representing the labour movement and the worker movement. The flag was quickly adopted by other anarchists, with the second colour used to distinguish specific anarchist philosophies: anarcho pacifism with white, green anarchism with green, anarcho-syndicalism and anarcho-communism with red, mutualism with orange, and anarcho-capitalism with yellow, while black alone typically represents 'anarchism without adjectives'.
During the Golden Age of Piracy, the black flag, or Jolly Roger of pirates such as Blackbeard and Samuel Bellamy became popular symbols of piracy. The flags represented death and no quarter to those who did not surrender. The Crossed Swords Jolly Roger, falsely attributed to John Rackham, has become a popular and recognisable symbol of pirates, particularly of pirates of the Americas. The skull and bones also became a hazardous symbol to display poisons such as cyanide, Zyklon B and other toxic substances. The black flag of piracy would later influence the symbols of anarchism, such as the symbols of the Makhnovshchina and the Kronstadt rebellion. The rise of internet piracy led to the symbols of the golden age of piracy becoming widely adopted, becoming the symbols of pirate sites such as the Pirate bay. Black becoming a colour to represent pirate parties.
Black was also used by some anti-racist and Black nationalist parties, such as the Black Panther Party in the United States and the Popular Unity in Brazil.

Anti-clerical parties in the late 19th and early 20th centuries sometimes used the colour black in reference to the officials of the Roman Catholic Church because the cassock is usually black.
In Germany and Austria, black is the colour historically associated with Christian democratic parties, such as the Christian Democratic Union of Germany, the Christian Social Union in Bavaria and the Austrian People's Party ; however, this is only customary, as the official colours of the CDU are usually either one of or a mix of different shades of yellow, orange or blue, depending on the regional branch of the party, with the nationwide party also using the red, black and gold from the German flag as official colours. The CSU uses a medium dark shade of blue as their official colour, as seen in their logo. In 2017, the ÖVP changed their official colour from black to turquoise, with some regional branches switching to turquoise as well, while others continue to use black, often in a mix with another colour, such as red, yellow, green or blue.
In Italy, black is the colour of fascism because it was the official colour of the National Fascist Party. As a result, modern Italian parties would not use black as their political colour; however, it has been customary to use black to identify the neo-fascist Italian Social Movement.
In the Islamic world, black flags are sometimes used by jihadist groups. Black was the colour of the Abbasid caliphate. It is also commonly used by Shia Muslims, as it is also associated with mourning the death of Husayn ibn Ali. It is now known as the flag colour of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant.
In Malaysia, the People's Solidarity Secretariat, an umbrella youth organisation, launched the Black Flag Movement in 2021 as a resistance-based protest against the then ruling Perikatan Nasional government. The Malaysian United Democratic Alliance also adapted the colour black as their official colour.
In Russia, black was used for monarchism and nationalist movements, such as the Black Hundreds before their defeat.
In India, black has often been a theme in protests. In the state of Tamil Nadu, black is associated with the Dravidar Kazhagam, a left-wing social movement, led by Periyar, a social reformer and politician.
In Brazil, the far-left socialist and anti-racist party Popular Unity has black as its official colour.
Blue

is usually associated with centre-right or conservative parties, originating from its use by the Tories in the United Kingdom. Blue is used by many international organisations of centre right and conservative parties, such as the International Democrat Union, the Democrat Union of Africa, the Asia Pacific Democrat Union, the Caribbean Democrat Union, the European Democrat Union, the European People's Party, the European Conservatives and Reformists Party.

The field of the flag of the United Nations is light blue, chosen to represent peace and hope. It has given rise to the term "bluewashing".
The colour blue, normally of a lighter shade, is of prime significance in Judaism. The flag of Israel features two blue horizontal stripes and a blue Star of David, so blue, often combined with white, is often used by mainstream Zionist parties and movements, such as the Jewish National Fund or more recently the Blue and White alliance. See also tekhelet, National colours of Israel and Zionism.
Turquoise blue colour was shown in Iran as a symbol of royalism and support of the Pahlavi dynasty, and the flag of this dynasty is of this colour.
In Australia the colour blue has been associated with conservatism and the right since pre-federation, taking influence from the United Kingdom. The major centre-right, conservative political party, called the Liberal Party of Australia, uses blue, as did its predecessor party: United Australia.
In Austria, blue is heavily associated with the right-wing populist Freedom Party and with pan-Germanism. It is the Freedom Party's official colour, and its members are generally referred to as "blues" in the media and colloquial speech. The blue cornflower was a national symbol of Germany in the 19th century, often associated with Prussia. It later became a symbol for Pan-German nationalists in Austria, such as Georg Ritter von Schönerer's Alldeutsche Vereinigung. In 1930s Austria the cornflower was also worn by members of the then illegal NSDAP, as a secret symbol and identifier. After 1945, MPs of the Freedom Party wore cornflowers on their lapels at the openings of the Austrian parliament, until they switched to the more "Austrian" Edelweiß in 2017.
In Argentina, blue is associated with the syncretic Peronist movement. The left-wing populist Frente de Todos uses sky blue alongside the Justicialist Party, the main party of the front. Federal Peronism, which represents the right-wing of the Peronist movement and the conservative Christian Democratic Party current, uses dark blue.
In Belgium, blue is associated with liberalism, used both by the Open Flemish Liberals and Democrats as the Reformist Movement.
In Brazil, blue is associated with mainstream centre-right, liberal and conservative parties opposed to populism, often associated with the left but also opposed with the populist reactionary right, like National Democratic Union, National Renewal Alliance, Progressive Party, Brazilian Social Democracy Party, Democratas and Brazil Union. The first major party which used blue was the far-right Brazilian Integralist Action, but their successors use Gold.
In Canada, the Conservative Party uses blue. Also, blue is often used to represent Quebec. The Bloc Québécois, a federal party centred around Quebec nationalism, uses blue, as do major provincial parties in Quebec like the Parti Québécois and Coalition Avenir Québec. The colour is also used to represent the many provincial Conservative parties, often called the "Progressive Conservative Party" or PC, for short.
In Germany, the far-right Alternative for Germany uses a light blue as their primary colour.
In Honduras, blue is used by the conservative National party.
In Hong Kong, blue is used by pro-Beijing camp, but also used by localists.
In India, sky blue is associated with the Indian National Congress, a centrist political party. Meanwhile, dark blue is associated with the Dalit Movement, represented by multiple parties: Republican Party of India, Bahujan Samaj Party, etc.
In Indonesia, blue is used by the centrist Democratic Party and the center-left NasDem Party. It is also used by the islamist party National Mandate Party.
In the Republic of Ireland, blue is associated with the centre-right Fine Gael party, going back to the Blueshirts, a quasi-fascist uniformed group that merged into the party in 1932. "Blueshirt" is a common derogatory term for Fine Gael, and they often use blue in party materials.
In Japan, blue is associated with liberal, centrist, and centre-left parties. Three centre-left parties in Japan with elected representatives use blue: the Constitutional Democratic Party, Democratic Party for the People, and the Social Democratic Party. Historically, blue was used by Japan Socialist Party.
In Malaysia, blue was currently used to represent both Barisan Nasional and Perikatan Nasional.
In Poland, blue is used by the right-wing populist PiS party, and a darker version is also used by the far-right Confederation party.
In Russia, blue is an official colour of the ruling party, United Russia.
In Singapore, blue is usually associated with the ruling People's Action Party, though it is also used for the Workers' Party as its colour represents blue-collared working class, to keep up with the civic nationalism and social democracy ideologies.
In South Africa, blue is usually associated with liberal political parties, the most popular being the Democratic Alliance, the largest opposition party. The colour blue was also used by the United Party, from which the Progressive Party split in 1959.
In South Korea, traditionally blue was used by conservative parties. Since 2013, blue has adopted by the liberal Democratic Party of Korea, while conservative party change its colour from blue to red. This makes South Korea an exception to the general rule that blue represents conservative parties, along with the United States.
In Spain, blue is the colour of the mainstream conservative People's Party, but regionally:
* Light blue is used by Galician nationalism as it appears in the flag of Galicia.
* Dark blue is used by non-separatist Catalan nationalism, being the colour of Convergence and Union, which ruled Catalonia from 1980 to 2003 and from 2010 to 2015, and its successor PDeCAT.
* Light blue is used by pro-independence party Junts
In Taiwan and historically in China, it is used by the Kuomintang and the wider Pan-Blue Coalition, a coalition generally associated with Chinese nationalism as well as conservatism.
In the United States, the colour blue has been associated with the liberal Democratic Party since around the 2000 presidential election, when most of the major television networks used the same colour scheme for the parties. This makes the United States an exception to the general rule that blue represents conservative parties; the major conservative party in the United States, the Republican Party, uses red. In 2010, the Democratic party unveiled a blue official logo.
In Venezuela, blue represents the Democratic Unity Roundtable, the large multi-ideological coalition of parties in opposition, probably as a counterpart to PSUV's red.
In most of Latin America, blue is used as a colour of anti-feminism and, more specifically, anti-abortion. This colour was used as a response to the feminist/pro-abortion green. This originated in Argentina.