Circle-A (anarchist symbol)

The letter “A,” in a circle, has been an anarchy symbol since the 1970s. It’s not known who originated the symbol. The symbol appears to have started in Europe.
 
“Even the anarchist graffiti, signed with the traditional anarchist symbol of a large ‘A’ inside a circle, seems more trendy and witty than that of any other political group in Spain” was printed in the Los Angeles (CA) Times on April 14, 1978. “A punk Anarchy Symbol is scrawled throughout the Paris Metro system” was printed in The Daily Illini (Urbana, IL) on November 2, 1978. “The reward poster lumped the graffiti and the window-breaking, noting that the graffiti was signed with an A in a circle (a traditional anarchist symbol, although the merchant poster didn’t say so)”—the symbol is shown in a photo—was printed in the San Francisco (CA) Examiner on September 2, 1980. “An encircled letter ‘A’ signifies anarchy. The symbol has been adopted by the losely organized youth movement, which, since May, has taken to the streets from time to time to press grievances about the well-ordered system in Zurich, Switzerland’s financial center and largest city” was printed in the Grand Island (NE) Daily Independent on October 28, 1980.
 
 
Wikipedia: Anarchist symbolism
Circle-A
The symbol composed of the capital letter A surrounded by a circle is universally recognized as a symbol of anarchism and has been established in global youth culture since the 1970s. An interpretation held by anarchists such as Cindy Milstein is that the A represents the Greek anarkhia (‘without ruler/authority’), and the circle can be read as the letter O, standing for order or organization, a reference to Pierre-Joseph Proudhon’s definition of anarchism from his 1840 book What Is Property?: “as man seeks justice in equality, so society seeks order in anarchy” (French: la société cherche l’ordre dans l’anarchie).
 
In the 1970s, anarcho-punk and punk rock bands such as Crass began using the circle-A symbol in red, thereby introducing it to non-anarchists. Crass founder Penny Rimbaud would later say that the band probably first saw the symbol while traveling through France.
         
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14 April 1978, Los Angeles (CA) Times, “Anarchism Still Flourishes on Mystical Soil of Spain” by Stanley Meisler, pt. 1-B, pg. 1, col. 3:
Even the anarchist graffiti, signed with the traditional anarchist symbol of a large “A” inside a circle, seems more trendy and witty than that of any other political group in Spain.
 
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2 November 1978, The Daily Illini (Urbana, IL), “Are we not men? We are new wave” by Wally Hollycaust, pg. 21, col. 4:
A punk Anarchy Symbol is scrawled throughout the Paris Metro system, and French punks go out to tres chic discos.
 
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2 September 1980, San Francisco (CA) Examiner, “Thugs terrorize the Haight” by Jim Wood, pg. A12, col. 3:
The reward poster lumped the graffiti and the window-breaking, noting that the graffiti was signed with an A in a circle (a traditional anarchist symbol, although the merchant poster didn’t say so).
(A photo shows the symbol.—ed.)
 
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24 October 1980, Hertfordshire (UK) Mercury and County Press, “Night-of-the-full-moon rampage by young gang,” pg. C57, col. 3:
Blue paint had been sprayed over the war memorial with the word “Punx,” a swastika and the anarchy sign—the letter “A” in a circle.
 
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28 October 1980. Grand Island (NE) Daily Independent, “Vandals damage stained glass windows,” pg. 26, cols. 1-2:
ZURICH, Switzerland (AP)—(...) An encircled letter “A” signifies anarchy. The symbol has been adopted by the losely organized youth movement, which, since May, has taken to the streets from time to time to press grievances about the well-ordered system in Zurich, Switzerland’s financial center and largest city.
 
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15 February 1981, San Francisco (CA) Sunday Examiner & Chronicle, “Angry youths shaking country that seemed without troubles” by Rod Nordland (Knight News Service), sec. A, pg. 25, col. 2:
ZURICH, Switzerland
(...)
An encircled letter “a,” standing for anarchy, has replaced the peace symbol as the most common graffito in town. 
 
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15 October 1981, The Guardian (London, UK), “The godfathers of a Children’s Crusade” by W. L. Webb, pg. 15, col. 2:
OPA TERROR it says on the chalk walls of the Berlin underground—Grandad terror! It could mean those old Nazi grandfathers; but the A is enclosed in an O, the anarchist sign, and it’s an ironic reference to a strange alliance which has grown up in the theatre-workshop or political laboratory which is West Berlin.
 
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3 December 1981, The Nothern Echo (Darlington, Durham, UK),  “Don’t take your mum” by Jim Howells, pg. 8 col. 5:
She describes herself as a feminist, and tattooed on one arm is a women’s lib symbol set around an A for anarchy sign.
 
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23 July 1982, The Daily Telegraph (London, UK), “Paint hooligans attack council leaders,” pg. 3, col. 1:
After a three-hour sleep he found his wife’s car sprayed with a painted circle around the letter “A,” the anarchist symbol.
 
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2 September 1984, San Francisco (CA) Examiner, “Thrashing” by Beth Hughes, California Living Magazine, pg. 19, col. 2:
A letter A inside a slashed circle— the anarchists’ symbol—is a popular decoration, as are the skull and crossbones, with oozing blood.
 
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23 October 1984, The Republic (Columbus, IN), “‘Anarchists’ Behind Arch Vandalism?,” pg. 1, col. 2:
The person who spray-painted the letter “A” on the Large Arch at the Bartholomew County Library Plaza may have been making a political statement advocating anarchy, according to two letters received by The Republic.
 
While neither writer claims credit for painting the “A,” they do believe the vandalism was appropriate and one advocates leaving the “A” on the metal sculpture.
 
An Indiana University political philosophy professor told The Republic today that he has never seen the “A” surrounded by a circle used as a symbol of anarchy.
 
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4 January 1986, Herald-Express (Devon, UK), “Grisly ‘black magic’ rites” by Colleen Turoczy, pg. 2, cols. 3-4:
But at Totnes police station Sgt. Stuart Newberry said: “I think it could just be the anarchist’s sign.”
 
The sign is a circle with a large letter “A” through it.
(...)
“Written on the tombstone, engraved in the frost, was a circle with an “A” through it.”
 
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18 April 1987, Chicago (IL) Tribune, “Nothing rules the day at Anarchist Picnic” by Barbara Brotman, sec. 2, pg. 1, col. 5:
Fred, a carpenter, hung a black flag with a red"A” in a circle in a spreading tree.
 
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28 February 1988, The Sunday Rutland Herald and The Sunday Times Argus (utland, VT), “Anarchy!!” by Roger Catlin, sec. D, pg. 8, col. 6:
Such persuasive speech led to a swelling of young punks waving the traditional anarchists’ symbol—the black flag and a civcles capital A even though many were obviously doing it for fashion, Ziesing says.
 
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23 June 1988, Miami (FL) Herald, “Students’ grief takes many forms” by Jonathan Karp, Neighbors sec., pg. 2, cols. 2-3:
“He was a mystery,” said SIlver, who knew Borda well and knew his dark, penetrating eyes, Army boots and jeans bleached with the letter A in a circle, the symbol for anarchy.
 
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22 February 1989, Los Angeles (CA) Times, “Boy, 13, Draws Gun in Class, Is Disarmed by Teacher” by Esther Schrader, pt. 2, pg. 1, col. 2:
The boy had worn a T-shirt—printed with a letter “A” surrounded by a red circle—to the school’s Valentine’s Day dance despite Eberhard’s suggestion not to.