A hammer blow for French Communists

The Communist Party of France has removed the hammer and sickle from its membership card (Reuters)

The old phrase “workers of the world, unite thee” is looking a bit stale this week.

The Communist Party of France has started a revolution among its members after removing the hammer and sickle from its membership card at the 36th conference last week.

The party has used the symbol since its foundation in 1921. It was chosen by Lunacharsky and Lenin from a competition of artists. Dropping the symbol might be a way to align with European Left, a coalition of left-wing groups formed in 1999 to co-operate with the European Parliament.

One can’t see the Saatchi brothers advising to drop the hammer (representing urban workers) and the sickle ( agrarian labourers). But as a commentator wrote on France Info Radio’s website: “It’s natural that they’ve abandoned their tools. There’s no work anymore!”