The Youth International Party (whose adherents were known as Yippies, a variant on "Hippies") was a highly theatrical political party established in the United States in 1967. An offshoot of the free speech and anti-war movements of the 1960s, Yippies presented a youth-oriented countercultural alternative to the strait-laced earnestness often associated with representatives of those movements. They employed media-savvy gestures—such as advancing a pig ("Pigasus the Immortal") as candidate for President in 1968—to mock the social status quo.
The Yippies had no formal membership or hierarchy: Abbie Hoffman, Anita Hoffman , 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 Jerry Rubin, Stewart Alpert , Dick Gregory, Ed Sanders, Phil Ochs, and David Peel.
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.
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.
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