Raised fist

It is a common symbol representing a wide range of political ideologies, most notably socialism, communism, anarchism, and trade unionism, and can also be used as a salute expressing unity, strength, or resistance.

William "Big Bill" Haywood, a founding member of the Industrial Workers of the World, used the metaphor of a fist as something greater than the sum of its parts during a speech at the 1913 Paterson silk strike.

[2] Journalist and socialist activist John Reed described hearing a similar description from a participant in the strike.

[4] In the United States, clenched fist was described by the magazine Mother Earth as "symbolical of the social revolution" in 1914.

[6] The gesture of the raised fist was apparently known in the United States as well, and is seen in a photograph from a May Day march in New York City in 1936.

[8] The graphic symbol was popularised in 1948 by Taller de Gráfica Popular, a print shop in Mexico that used art to advance revolutionary social causes.

The Gonzo fist emblem, characterized by two thumbs and four fingers holding a peyote button, was originally used in Hunter S. Thompson's 1970 campaign for sheriff of Aspen, Colorado.

The Rotfrontkämpferbund paramilitary organization of Communist Party of Germany used the right hand fist salute as early as 1924.

"[24] At the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City, medal winners John Carlos and Tommie Smith gave the raised fist salute during the American national anthem as a sign of black power, and as a protest on behalf of the Olympic Project for Human Rights.

Polish musician Olaf Deriglasoff, raising a fist at Woodstock Festival Poland
A painting of a man at the forefront of a crowd raising his fist.
This painting by Honoré Daumier of the French Revolution of 1848 includes a possible early example of a "political clenched fist", according to curator Francesca Seravalle. [ 1 ]
A red fist rises from a large crowd outside a factory, and Hungarian text directs workers and citizens to join a mass strike in Budapest, 1912.
This 1912 poster by Mihály Bíró uses the fist as a symbol of the collective power of the massed workers from whom it rises.
Children preparing for evacuation during the Spanish Civil War (1930s), some giving the Republican salute. The Republicans showed a raised right fist whereas the Nationalists gave the Roman salute . [ 9 ]