A visual history of the Fist

9 images that explain why Bernie reminds you of the Black Panthers

Bernie Sanders took the stage in Des Moines last night and threw his right fist in the air.

The Fist first became a thing thanks to a surly French artist named Honoré Daumier. His 1860 The Uprising shows a gray-haired man — looking a little like a younger Bernie — leading a furious crowd, sleeves rolled up and a fist up high.

Honore Daumier, “The Uprising” © The Phillips Collection

Daumier imagined the man as a symbol of the Revolutions of 1848, a series of anti-royal protests that roiled Europe. Art historians have called the painting “a symbol of pent-up human indignation.” By the 1930s, socialist parties were using the Fist to get votes.

A 1932 Dutch poster for the Socialist party proclaiming “One struggle, one goal, one party.”

During the Spanish Civil War, Republican forces fighting Franco named the Fist “the anti-fascist salute.”

*Undated photograph of “Mujeres Libres” in Spain*

By the 1960s, the raised fist was world famous. An American civil rights activist named Frank Cieciorka made a woodblock print of a fist that appeared in posters, T-shirts, and buttons.

Athletes Tommie Smith and John Carlos gave what they saw as a “human rights salute” at the 1968 Olympics — they adapted it from imagery like Cieciorka’s print.

Gold medalist Tommie Smith (center) and bronze medalist John Carlos (right) with raised fists at the 1968 Mexico City Olympics. © John Dominis/Getty

When Smith and Carlos stood on the podium, there was no such thing as the “black power salute.” The Black Panthers made it their thing after Smith justified the salute by saying “We are black and we are proud of being black. Black America will understand what we did tonight.”

A 1969 Black Panther protest in New York City ©David Fenton/Getty

Bernie’s Fists likely came out of his time as an left-wing activist. He’s been fists-up since at least 1981…

Newly mayor, Bernie Sanders celebrates in Burlington, Vermont. Rob Swanson/Courtesy of the Bernie Sanders Campaign

…but few people noticed until last August when, after being interrupted by Black Lives Matter activists, Bernie left the stage with his fist raised and walked into the crowd. Then he watched as the protesters raised their own fists.

Bernie might be old; the raised fist is older. It’s a symbol of socialism that Sanders is trying to bring out of retirement.

An International Workers of the World poster from 1917 promoting membership in “One Big Union.” Much how many fingers make a fist, the logic goes, many workers make a union.