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Introduction
The Youth International Party, or the Yippies, as they were called, was the brainchild of Abbie Hoffman and Jerry Rubin, two brash cultural revolutionaries. Unlike the National Mobilization Movement of Hayden, Davis, and Dellinger, the Yippies called for a rejection of tradition and an embrace of radical notions of freedom and personal expression. The following document comes from a Yippie flyer prepared for the week of the 1968 Democratic National Convention and distributed in Lincoln Park.
Document
An immediate end to the War in Vietnam . . .the abolition of the military draft. . . .An end to the cultural and economic domination of minority groups. . . .The legalization of marijuana and all other psychedelic drugs. . . .A prison system based on the concept of rehabilitation rather than punishment. . . .The total disarmament of all the people beginning with the police. . . .The abolition of Money. . . .A conservation program geared towards preserving our natural resources and committed to the elimination of pollution of our crowded cities . . .free birth control information and devices but also abortions when desired . . .student power to determine his course of study. . . .The open and free use of the media. . . .An end to all censorship. . . .We believe that people should fuck all the time, anytime, whomever they wish . . .a national referendum system conducted via television or a telephone voting system. . . .A program that encourages and promotes the arts. . . .
Yippie – Definitions
A national disorganization whose sole purpose would be the Theatre of Disruption. . . — Paul Krasner
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The blending of pot and politics grass leaves movement — a cross-fertilization of the hippie and New Left philosophy.
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A connecting link that would tie as much as the underground as was willing into some gigantic national get-together.
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The development of a model for an alternative society.
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The need to make some statement, especially in revolutionary, action-theater terms, about LBJ, the Democratic Party, electoral politics, and the state of the nation.
— Abbie Hoffman, Realist, September, 1968
Source:
Daniel Walker, "The Gathering Forces: A Prelude to Convention Week," Rights in Conflict: Chicago's 7 Brutal Days, a report submitted by Daniel Walker, Director of the Chicago Study Team, to the National Commission on the Causes and Prevention of Violence (New York: Grosset & Dunlap, Publishers, 1968), 22-23.
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