Red Flag (magazine)

The Red Flag was a journal on political theory, published by the Chinese Communist Party. It was one of the "Two Newspapers and One Magazine" during the 1960s and 1970s. The newspapers were People's Daily and Guangming Daily. People's Liberation Army Daily is also regarded as one of them.

History and profile
Red Flag was started during the Great Leap Forward era in 1958. The journal was the successor to another journal, Study (Chinese: Xuexi). The title of Red Flag was given by Mao Zedong. Chen Boda was the editor of the journal, which served as a crucial media outlet during the Cultural Revolution.

Red Flag was freely distributed in Hong Kong and Southeast Asia until 1958 when the "undesired" foreign publications were banned through the Undesirable Publications Ordinance. As a result, its circulation became 3,000 copies in contrast to 5,000 copies before the implementation of the law.

During the 1960s, Red Flag temporarily ended publication, but was restarted in 1968. Its frequency was redesigned as biweekly. Then it came out monthly until 1979. It was published bi-monthly from 1980 to 1988.

Red Flag covered theoretical arguments supported by the party. It also published articles on the views of the party about the Communist parties in other countries. For instance, in March 1963 the speech of Palmiro Togliatti, leader of the Italian Communist Party, at the 10th Congress was discussed and evaluated in detail.

Chinese officials announced in May 1988 that the journal would be closed. Finally, it ceased publication in June 1988, and was succeeded by Qiushi (Seeking Truth).

In 1966, Pol Pot formed a similar magazine with the same name in Cambodia in Khmer, Tung Krahom, modelled on Red Flag.