The standard required by the Communist charwoman? (3,6)
I believe the answer is:
red ensign
'the standard' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'by the communist charwoman?' is the wordplay.
'by' says to put letters next to each other.
'the communist' becomes 'red' (red can informally mean communist).
'charwoman?' becomes 'ensign' (I can't justify this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'red' next to 'ensign' is 'RED ENSIGN'.
'required' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for red ensign that I've seen before include "Flag flown by the British Merchant Navy" , "Flag for ships" , "Shipping flag" , "It will fly at sea" , "standard for seamen" .)