Background
The Yippies had no formal membership or hierarchy. Abbie Hoffman, Anita Hoffman, Jerry Rubin, Nancy Kurshan, and Paul Krassner founded the Yippies (according to his own account, Krassner coined the name) at a meeting in Abbie and Anita's New York flat on Dec. 31, 1967. "If the press had created 'hippie,' could not we five hatch the 'yippie'?" Abbie Hoffman wrote. Other activists associated with the Yippies include Stew Albert, Ed Rosenthal, Allen Ginsberg, Ed Sanders, Robin Morgan, Phil Ochs, William Kunstler, Jonah Raskin, Steve Conliff, John Sinclair, Dana Beal, Tom Forcade, David Peel, Tuli Kupferberg, Jill Johnston, Daisy Deadhead and Bob Fass.
A Yippie flag was frequently seen at anti-war demonstrations. The flag had a black background with a five pointed red star in the center, and a green cannabis leaf superimposed over it. This flag is also mentioned in Hoffman's Steal This Book.
Abbie Hoffman and Jerry Rubin became the most famous Yippies – and best-selling authors – in part due to publicity surrounding the five-month Chicago Seven Conspiracy trial of 1969. They both used the phrase "ideology is a brain disease" to separate the Yippies from mainstream political parties that played the game by the rules. Hoffman and Rubin were arguably the most colorful of the seven defendants accused of criminal conspiracy and inciting to riot at the August 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.
Read more about this topic: Youth International Party
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