Socialist Party (Portugal)

Partido Socialista, PS

Last modified: 2005-08-26 by antonio martins
Keywords: socialist party | fist | partido socialista | ps | rose | js | juventude socialista | socialist youth |
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• Presentation of PS
• Socialist rose, the color pink, and alternate party flags
• The party flag
• Variations of the party flag
• Socialist Youth

• Portuguese political flags
• Portugal

• Official statutory dispositions on the flag (§2.2)

Presentation of PS

The Socialist Party (PS - Partido Socialista) is the biggest party at the moment and is ruling the country with a relative majority in the parliament. Ideologically it’s mainly a social-democratic party (very centrist), with a left-wing minority within, including some ex-communists. It was founded in Germany by exiled portuguese in 1973.
Jorge Candeias, 03 Sep 1997

The party flag

The flag is red with the party symbol in the centre, which consists of a closed hand within an outlined circle surrounded by another outlined circle. Between the two circles appears the name of the party. All drawings are in yellow.
Jorge Candeias, 03 Sep 1997

Recently, I found in the Socialist Party website the definition of the party symbols in its internal law (Art.2, para.2.):

The symbol of the Socialist Party consists in two concentric circles, having the inner circle, on red field, in the center, a closed left fist in golden yellow, and the outer circle, written in red caps on golden yellow, the words PARTIDO SOCIALISTA.

The flag of the Socialist Party is a red rectangle, having in the upper left corner the symbol of the party.

Variations of the party flag

I’ve seen a number of variations of that flag.
Jorge Candeias, 03 Sep 1997

Reversed rim

First, there is a variation where the words are not in red on yellow, but in yellow on red, being the flag identical in every other aspect.
Jorge Candeias, 03 Sep 1997

Big logo

Then comes the most widely seen variation: a big symbol in the center of the flag with the words in yellow on red.
Jorge Candeias, 03 Sep 1997

Right fist

Also widely seen is a flag where the symbol bears not the left fist, but the right one.
Jorge Candeias, 03 Sep 1997

Pink logo on white

Recentely, started to appear another flag: a white flag with a big pinkish symbol in the centre.
Jorge Candeias, 10 Nov 1997

Socialist rose, the color pink, and alternate party flags

Though there are no pink flags used by this party, as far as I know, pink is the color immediately associated with it.
António Martins, 18 May 1999

Although the portuguese Socialist Party uses a fist as its official emblem, the more modern and moderate “socialist rose”, used by so many “center left” european parties, also shows in many party graphic material — indeed a sharp contrast with the official symbol, a kind politico-graphical split personality disorder.
António Martins, 18 May 2004

Even that is recently (say, a decade or maybe a little more). As far as I can tell, there was no colour association with the SP before. The rose of the socialists is a modern “invention”: in those days [1975], they where purely red with a yellow closed fist in the canton. In fact, this is still the official flag of the Socialist Party.
Jorge Candeias, 20 May 1999 and 17 May 1999

Lately the red of the flag is shifting twards pink, and a new symbol (and flag) came out: a pink rose and "PS" in pink inside a green rectangle in a white field.
Jorge Candeias, 03 Sep 1997

The PS rose is highly stylized, only petals made of nesting swirls, no stalk nor holding hand, and shows almost always by the side of the party acronym, set in large bold sans capitals, within a rectangular wavy, flag-like outline.
António Martins, 18 May 2004

It should be noted that a very different representation of the socialist rose is used in the official emblem of PS’s youth section.
António Martins, 18 May 2004

Flagoid with rose

The idealized flag design thus implied, a variant following the national colors.
António Martins, 18 May 2004

Inverted colors

Its often used color invertion.
António Martins, 18 May 2004

Socialist Youth

It should be noted that a very different representation of the socialist rose is used in the unofficial party logo.
António Martins, 18 May 2004