Ralph Chaplin
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Ralph Hosea Chaplin was an American writer, artist and labor activist.
Charles H. Kerr 1911 series stock certificate illustrated by Chaplin
Advertisement for IWW stickerettes in "Solidarity" publication
Chaplin's IWW membership booklet
Anarchist symbolism
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Anarchists have employed certain symbols for their cause since the 19th century, including most prominently the circle-A, the black flag or the black cat. Bisected flags, often using the black flag as
Ralph Chaplin
…Chaplin died in 1961. According to the IWW, Chaplin likely designed the now widely used anarcho-syndicalist image, the black cat. In 2022, law professor Ahmed White mentioned him in his book on the IWW called Under the Iron Heel. There are ten entries for Chaplin's…
Front page of Le Monde illustré depicting Louise Michel carrying the black flag and inciting demonstrators to loot a bakery during the demonstration of 9 March 1883. Her flag has the inscription 'Bread or Death' but it's not certain that something was written on it during the event.
Black and red-and-black bisected flags at an anti-austerity march in London, 2011
First circle-A of history in the Bulletin des Jeunesses Libertaires
Circle-A graffiti on a laneway wall in Sydney. 2026