[en] It is shown that the color of a single, classical pole particle can change only if the gauge group contains two generators a and b such that [a,b] = anot =0 and the particle is unaccelerated. If the gauge group is compact and semisimple, then color is constant, but there is transfer of energy by the Yang-Mills field, in complete analogy with the situation in electrodynamics described by the Lienard-Wiechert potentials