Socialist Party of England (Committee for an International Alliance of Labour)

Following on from the post where I put up the IngSoc flag alongside all the potential Fascist flags, I've decided that I may as well do the same with the Socialist side as I have (theoretically at least) with the Fascists in my version of the VBCW.

So, Socialist groups in the VBCW...

There is of course the organisation that becomes IngSoc/'The Party' of 1984. There are several versions of this flag and logo, the most common from the 1984 movie which came out in 1984 (there doesn't seem to be much from the 1956 version). Googling IngSoc produces multiple (different) images and logos. IngSoc stands for 'English Socialism', which may imply something called the English Socialist Party or Socialist Party of England... though it may not relate to the name of 'The Party' at all. Perhaps, it's the English Socialist Movement at this point. Either way, different IngSoc factions might have their own flags or banners. I like the invented name that I've entitled this post - "Socialist Party of England (Committee for an International Alliance of Labour)". Left-wing groups do like their alphabet-soup, and there are real organisations with worse sets of initials than this.

The leaders of IngSoc are 'Big Brother' and Emmauel Goldstein. According to Alan Moore's League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: the Black Dossier, Big Brother is the codename of a British Intelligence operative who infiltrates the Labour Party and precipitates the revolution after WWII - this is Harry Wharton from the Billy Bunter stories, who was at Greyfriars in 1908. By the end of 1945, Wharton would be about 53, so in 1938 (the 'year zero' of VBCW), he'd be about 45-ish, and would presumably look something like Big Brother. There is a Jewish shopkeeper in the series When the Boat Comes In, called 'Manny' Goldstein, who is assaulted by the Blackshirts. Of course, he may as well be the revolutionary leader Emmanuel Goldstein, as Manny is short for Emmanuel. He's about 55 in 1937 or there abouts, as the action of the later episodes of fourth season of WtBCI takes place simultaneously with the War in Spain. By the time of the IngSoc revolution, he must be about 65.

The first of the images below is the 'standard' version from the 1984 film. I guess the others are different fan versions. They all feature a V sign, which is interesting.

Apart from IngSoc... from Jeeves and Wooster, there are the Heralds of the Red Dawn, a socialist group existing in 1922 ('Comrade Bingo'). They include Charlotte Corday Rowbotham, her father (unnamed beyond being called Rowbotham) and Comrade (also unnamed) Butt. Very briefly, 'Bingo' Little, nephew of Lord Bittlesham, joins the group out of infatuation with Charlotte. Interesting that Charlotte Corday Rowbotham is named after an assassinatrix from the French Revolution. In the TV series (but not the books), the Heralds of the Red Dawn get in a fight with the Saviours of Britain at Goodwood, which implies it is much later, as The Saviours of Britain don't appear in story-form until 1938, which puts them right at the outset of the VBCW. This could mark an early outing for the Saviours of Britain, or a late survival for the Heralds of the Red Dawn. But if the Saviours of Britain are around in the timeframe of the VBCW, then the Heralds of the Red Dawn might be too.

There are no images I can find for the banners of the Heralds of the Red Dawn, unfortunately. They don't seem to have made as much of an impact as Spode and his Saviours of Britain. But anyway, I would expect that the older groups in IngSoc might have a flag similar to the fourth one shown here. I'm hoping that the 'Freedom is Slavery' etc won't show too clearly on a small flag. These are the slogans of the Party after it has long-since established its total control over Oceania, not the pre-revolutionary groups of 1938.

And that's it... no more Socialist or Communist groups that I can find. Perhaps most of my workers' militia units will be flying INGSOC flags then...

Another collection of flags for VBCW

This is the flag of the Saviours of Britain, AKA the Black Shorts, from the Fry & Laurie version of Jeeves and Wooster. A link to the original (on wiki) is here.

Their leader of course is Roderick Spode, sometimes the 7th Earl of Sidcup, and sometimes proprietor of ladies' undergarment sellers Eulalie Souers. Spode and the Black Shorts are first mentioned in 1938, in The Code of the Woosters. Incidentally, I heard a few days ago reading a thread on Lead Adventurer Forum (link) that he's referenced in the Inspector Morse prequel TV show, Endeavour, set in the 1960s.

In my version of the VBCW (it will happen, honestly) the real-world BUF is mostly replaced by the BLF (British League of Fascists). Spode perhaps can stand in for Mosely but either the Saviours of Britain are a constituent of the League, or perhaps a fore-runner or offshoot. Other fascist organisations exist or at least have existed. I'm not wasting all those fascist flags when there's so many to chose from (as detailed here and perhaps also here, where the fourth flag could easily be of some Yorkshire fascists).

One organisation I've just found out about (never read the book) is in Aldous Huxley's Point Counter Point, published in 1928. Here, charismatic Everard Webley is leader of the paramilitary group the 'Brotherhood of British Freemen' or perhaps the 'British Free Fascists' (I will try to sort out which... I have some very contradictory info about this book, so I'm going to track down a copy). Perhaps these are also a fore-runner or constituent group in the BLF.

Potentially, and included because the lightning-strike on these can be taken as referring at least to the Black Shorts' emblem, these could be personal flags of SoB commanders, divisional ensigns or some such:

General Skar from Evil con Carne (link)

That hasn't come out very well but it's Transsexual Transylvania from The Rocky Horror Picture Show

Other flags, three of parties or organisations at least - one fascistic, one ambivalent, one ostensibly on the other side - and a city/region:

Norsefire (V for Vendetta) - there are several more variations on the Norsefire page at the Fictional Flags site.

This is a reconstruction of the flag of Viroconium (from Viroconium by M John Harrison) which also looks somewhat fascistic. I'd probably use it as the flag of a fascist group from Shropshire, as 'Viroconium' is derived from Uroconium which is the latin name for Wroxeter, near Shrewsbury.

This is the flag of the Northmen, also from Viroconium. In the novella The Pastel City, Canna Moidart's Northmen (under a banner something like this one) fight against Lord Waterbeck's Viroconium troops. They might be a militia, or they might be merely a rival fascist group (they don't look very friendly at least).

The only other flag I can come up with at the moment... IngSoc, 1984 (link)

I assume 'The Party' from 1984 would fight on the socialist side. But it's probably preparing the GULAG in the Essex Marshes even before the VBCW is won.