The Starry Plough (flag)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The modern Starry Plough flag .
The modern Starry Plough flag .
For other uses, see Starry Plough.

The Starry Plough banner was originally used by the Irish Citizen Army. The leader, James Connolly, said the significance of the banner was that a free Ireland would control its own destiny from the plough to the stars.

This was flown by the Irish Citizen Army during the 1916 Easter Rising.

The flag depicts the constellation of Ursa Major, known as The Plough in Ireland and the UK, or in the US, the Big Dipper.

While similar to the state flag of Alaska it predates it by more than a decade.

[edit] Starry Plough, 1930s to present

The design changed during the 1930s to that of the blue banner on the right, which was designed by members of the Republican Congress, and was adopted as the emblem of the Irish Labour movement, including the Irish Labour Party, though they eventually dropped it. It is also claimed by Irish republicans and has been carried alongside the Irish tricolour and Irish provincial flags and the sunburst flag at Provisional IRA, Continuity IRA, Official IRA and Irish National Liberation Army rallies.

The flag, and alternative versions of it, are also used by the Connolly Youth Movement, Labour Youth, Ógra Shinn Féin and the Republican Socialist Youth Movement. The older banner featuring the plough is still occasionally used today by the Irish Republican Socialist Party, Sinn Féin and the Workers Party of Ireland, the descendants of Official Sinn Féin.