Youth International Party

Yippie flag, ca. 1996.

The Youth International Party (whose adherents were known as Yippies, a variant on "Hippies" that is also used to designate the surviving circles of activists who came out of the now-defunct YIP) was a highly theatrical political party established in the United States in 1966. An offshoot of the free speech and anti-war movements of the 1960s, the Yippies presented a more radically youth-oriented and countercultural alternative to those movements. They employed theatrical gestures—such as advancing a pig ("Pigasus the Immortal") as a candidate for President in 1968—to mock the social status quo.

Since they were better known for street theatre and politically-themed pranks, many of the "old school" Political Left either ignored or denounced them. One Communist newspaper in the USA derisively referred to them as "Groucho Marxists".

Background

The Yippies had no formal membership or hierarchy: Abbie Hoffman, Anita Hoffman, Jerry Rubin, Nancy Kurshan, and Paul Krassner were among the founders of the Yippies (according to his own account, Krassner coined the name). Other activists associated with the Yippies include Stewart Albert, Dick Gregory, Ed Sanders, Phil Ochs, and David Peel. Charles Manson once referred to his group as "yippies".

A Yippie flag was designed, presumably by Abbie Hoffman, and was frequently seen at anti-war demonstrations. The flag had a black background with a five pointed red star in the center, with a green marijuana leaf superimposed over it. This flag is also mentioned in Hoffman's Steal This Book.

Origins

The term Yippie was thought up by Krassner on New Year's Eve 1967. Anita Hoffman liked the word but felt the New York Times and other strait-laced types needed a more formal name to take the movement seriously. That same night she came up with Youth International Party, because it symbolized the movement and made for a good play on words.

Abbie Hoffman and Jerry Rubin became the most famous Yippies—and bestselling authors—in part due to publicity surrounding the five-month Chicago Seven Conspiracy trial of 1969. Hoffman and Rubin were arguably the most colorful of the seven defendants accused of criminal conspiracy and inciting to riot at the 1968 Democratic National Convention. Hoffman and Rubin used the trial as a platform for Yippie antics—at one point, they showed up in court attired in judicial robes.

During early 70's British TV Jerry Rubin and James Brown [who would later found Loaded men's magazine] appalled the nation's older generation by shouting an obscenity on a live national broadcast. ^{[citation needed]}

Writings

The Youth International Party Line (YIPL; later, the name was changed to TAP for Technological American Party or Technological Assistance Program), started by Hoffman and Al Bell in June 1971 was the pioneer phreak magazine.

A YIP-related newspaper, The Yipster Times was founded by Dana Beal in 1972 and published in New York City. It changed its name to Overthrow in 1979.

Yippies in the new millennium

The Yippies led by Beal, with their headquarters at 9 Bleecker Street in lower Manhattan, have continued as a small movement into the early 2000s. They no longer publish a newspaper but are known for their annual marches in New York City to legalize marijuana. Beal crusades for the use of Ibogaine to treat heroin addicts. His erstwhile associate Aron Kay ("Pieman") continues to inspire a new generation of pie-throwers (of mushroom pies) against establishment figures. Another Yippie, A.J. Weberman, deconstructs the poetry of Bob Dylan, unmasks neo-Nazis and speculates about the tramps on the Grassy Knoll through his various web sites. According to the New York Times, the Yippie headquarters is being turned into a counterculture museum. [1]

The Lyndon LaRouche movement has opposed the Yippies. In the early 1980s the Yippies participated in several demonstrations against LaRouche in Manhattan. LaRouche, in turn, presented what they termed "dope dossiers" to various law enforcement agencies in an unsuccessful attempt to get Beal, Kay and other Yippies busted. (See Dennis King's Lyndon LaRouche and the New American Fascism, pp. 241-242 at [2].

References and further reading

Background

Origins

Writings

Yippies in the new millennium

See also

References and further reading