Along with the name Youth International Party, the organisation was also simply called Yippie! [Yahoo! We’re onto you.]. “What does Yippie! mean?,” Abbie Hoffman wrote: "Energy – fun – fierceness – exclamation point!"

Their approach set them apart from other New Left groups that were more formal or doctrinal.

The Yippies grew out of the broader 1960s counterculture, which included the civil rights movement, the anti-war movement, and the emerging youth culture centred around rock music, drugs (especially cannabis, hence the Yippie! logo) and experimentation. The Yippies believed in personal liberation and radical change, opposing not only war and capitalism but also what they saw as the repressive elements of American society, including rigid gender roles, conventional morality and conformity.

Yippies loved a prank, and they understood the power of television and mass media to shape public perception, often staging elaborate, attention-grabbing stunts that were intended to be provocative and newsworthy.

One of the earliest and most iconic Yippie actions was their attempt to "levitate" the Pentagon during an anti-war protest. Though this event didn't literally lift the Pentagon, it succeeded in garnering significant media attention and embodied the Yippie spirit of absurdity and symbolism.

(As an aside, “pieing” or a pie attack is the act of throwing a pie at a person. In pieing, the goal is usually to humiliate the victim while avoiding actual injury. Pie-throwing as a political act was invented by Yippies.)

The Yippies are perhaps best remembered for their involvement in the protests outside the Democratic National Convention in Chicago in 1968. The protests, which involved clashes with police, became infamous when Mayor Richard J. Daley's police force violently cracked down on demonstrators. The resulting "Chicago Seven" trial (in which Yippies Hoffman and Rubin were among those charged with conspiracy and inciting riots) became a focal point of the 1960s protest movement.

Hoffman’s book Steal This Book (1971) became a radical manifesto, offering practical advice on how to subvert the capitalist system.

While the Yippies themselves faded from prominence in the 1970s, their influence can be seen in later activist movements like Occupy Wall Street and the anti-globalisation protests of the late 1990s and early 2000s. These movements, like the Yippies, often employed theatrical tactics, rejected hierarchical organisation, and sought to challenge traditional forms of political engagement.

The Yippies were not without their critics. Some on the left dismissed their antics as unserious or counterproductive, arguing that they alienated potential allies. Nevertheless, their contribution to the broader countercultural and political landscape of the 1960s cannot be denied.

There has much cultural documentation of the Yippie movement. Most recently, in 2020, Netflix released the film The Trial of the Chicago 7, directed by Aaron Sorkin. Worth a look. Trailer HERE.

Story Idea: John Safran
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References

wikipedia.org/wiki/Youth_International_Party

Images

1. Yippies with Yippie! flag on stage at the Counter-inaugural Ball, 1969. Photo credit: Rowland Scherman
2. Abbie Hoffman doing Stand Up Comedy at West 78th Street. Photo credit: Dan Godfrey/NY Daily News Archive via Getty Images
3. Yippie! manifesto
4. Yippie! poster from 1968 Festival of Life
5. Yippie banner displayed at Washington, DC Smoke-In, 4 July 1977
6. A "Yippie!" button on display at the Chicago History Museum
7. Poster advertising Pittsburgh Smoke-In, Schenley Park, 2 July 1977
8. Book: Steal This Book by Abbie Hoffman. Written in 1970 and published in 1971.
9. Book: Blacklisted News Secret History From Chicago 1968 to 1984 Yippie! Bleecker Publishing, 1983
10 & 11. Video: The Trial of the Chicago 7 trailer, Netflix Film, 2020