Last modified: 2006-09-09 by francisco gregoric
Keywords: ucr | u.c.r. | radical civic union | unión cívica radical | juventud radical | jr | j.r. | comité nacional | hammer | feather | sun: rising |
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![[UCR flag]](../images/a/ar}ucr.gif)
UCR is a party with more than 100 years
(with evolution in its own name).
Nicolas Rucks, 16 May 2000
The origin of the Unión Cívica Radical (U.C.R.) is the revolution of 1890 in Buenos Aires, against the President Miguel Juárez Celman. This movement wanted some changes in Argentine Politics. An important point of the demands was the change of the Argentine electoral system, because in those times Argentine presidents were elected in fraudulent elections, no secret, nor “clean”. The revolutionaries wanted the establishment of secret, universal and obligatory vote. The original party was called Unión Cívica (Civic Union).
After the Revolution of 1890 the party Unión Cívica split in Unión Cívica Nacional (National Civic Union) and Unión Cívica Radical (Radical Civic Union). The U.C.N. came to an agreement with the government without changing the electoral system, while the U.C.R. did not accept that and applied a policy of electoral abstention and uprisings with the help of some sectors of the Army. The U.C.R. did not give up in its demand for secret, universal and obligatory vote. The party U.C.N. disappeared in short time, however the U.C.R. continued in Argentine politics. In 1912 with the Ley Saenz Peña (Saenz Peña Law) the Argentine electoral system was changed, and Hipólito Yrigoyen from the U.C.R. was the first Argentine President democratically elected by secret, universal and obligatory vote in 1916.
The U.C.R. or “Radicalismo”, is not a “radical” party as we understand this word nowadays. The meaning of the word "radical" in the party’s name is that the idea was to follow “radically” the ideas of the old Unión Cívica (Civic Union). The U.C.R. wanted to differentiate itself from the U.C.N. that had come to an agreement with the government.
Francisco Gregoric, 01 Mar 2002
The Radical Flag appeared after the Revolution of 1890. (apparently it was first hosted in the city of Rosario in 1893). In this time (before 1912) the Radical Flag was used in political meetings and during the uprisings against the government. Since 1912, the flag has been used in meetings of the U.C.R.
The meaning of the colors in the U.C.R. flag:
According to historian Eduardo S. Rosenkrantz [rkz97] those colors came from the old colors of Argentine Federalism from the XIXth Century. For example, Juan Manuel de Rosas (and other Federalist leaders as Facundo Quiroga and Felipe Varela) used red and white flags during the XIXth Century.
This connection between Federalist and Radical flags is very possible. The first leader of the U.C.R., Leandro N. Alem, was the son of a member of the Rosist Government, who was executed after the fall of Juan Manuel de Rosas in 1852.
The true Radical Flag does not have the Radical Coat of Arms, nor text. It is a simple two horizontal stripes white and red flag. However, sometimes during political meetings some members of the U.C.R. host flags with the Radical Coat of Arms, or with the "U.C.R." text, or with the picture of the face of a political leader. But those are non-official variants of the flag.
Sources:
The U.C.R. flag should be raised with the white stripe on top. However sometimes during political meetings of the party, some people raise the flag in a wrong way, upside down (red stripe ot top).
Francisco Gregoric, 08 Sep 2006
Although the true Radical Flag does not have the Radical Coat
of Arms, nor text, sometimes during
political meetings some members of the U.C.R. host unofficial variants of the flag. These flags could have the Radical Coat of Arms,
or the "U.C.R." text, or the portrait of a historical or present day political leader.
Internal groups of the party sometimes write the name of their sub-groups in the flag, too.
Francisco Gregoric, 08 Sep 2006
![[UCR unofficial flag]](../images/a/ar}ucr).gif)
Sometimes during political meetings some members of the U.C.R.
hoist flags with the Radical Coat of Arms, but
those are non-official variants of the flag.
Francisco Gregoric, 01 Mar 2002
The Radical Coat of Arms or Emblem, is based on the Argentine National Coat of Arms (in its shape, position of the rising sun, and general configuration). However it has the colors of the UCR and yellow wreaths of wheat instead of the laurel branches of National Coat of Arms. Finally the hammer stands for work, and the feather for education.
Francisco Gregoric, 09 Nov 2005
![[Flag used by the Juventud Radical (Radical Youth)]](../images/a/ar}jr.gif)
The Juventud Radical (Radical Youth) is the movement for young people inside the UCR.
They use as a symbol the hammer and feather taken from the radical emblem.
The Juventud Radical usually raises the radical flag with texts added and/or the hammer and feather.
In the website of this youth movement, some pictures of a flag can be seen. The flag is the common UCR flag, with the emblem of the Juventud Radical and the words with the name of the group below. Finally the words "Comité Nacional" (National Committee) appear below, as this group is part of the national conduction of the party.
Francisco Gregoric, 08 Sep 2006