Written by Neil Horsky, this column was originally published in the January 2015 issue of the Boston Compass
Art by Erin Roth, “Abbie vs. Jerry vs. Jerry vs. Abbie”
A striking manifestation of 1960s American counter-culture, the Youth International Party, a.k.a. Yippies, were pioneers of theatrical protest tactics – outlandish public interventions pushing an anti-capitalist, anti-imperialist, sexually liberated progressive-absurdist political agenda. Led by the charismatic Jerry Rubin and Abbie Hoffman, the Yippies’ spectacular disruptions of business-as-usual included exorcising the Pentagon, dropping heaps of dollar bills from the balcony of the New York Stock Exchange, nominating Pigasus the pig for President at the 1968 Democratic National Convention, and many more.
Following the antics, arrests, and a House Un-American Activities Committee hearing, in the ‘70s Rubin and Hoffman’s lifestyles diverged drastically. Hoffman fled to Mexico to escape drug charges, re-emigrated to upstate New York under the alias Barry Freed, and dove into local environmental activism. Rubin adopted a “can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em” attitude, becoming a Young Urban Professional – a “yuppie” stockbroker, philanthropist, and organizer of “networking parties” for elite Wall Street financiers.
After Hoffman’s re-emergence and year in prison the daring duo reunited for a cross-country “Yippie versus Yuppie” speaking tour, visiting Boston on January 22 1985. Sponsored by Boston College’s Social Justice Lecture Series, the debate pinned Hoffman’s Radical Idealism: abiding by a moral imperative to expose, resist and undermine an unjust oppressive social system; against Rubin’s Practical Realism: working pragmatically in and through the system to create change while “getting ahead.” Borne by the contemporary American Baby Boomer after the perceived failure of the ‘60s revolutionary program, this ideological grappling was put on comic display for the young minds at the Roberts Center.
Steadfast positions delivered on poverty, labor, foreign and economic policy, war and peace, are interspersed with quips of darting and biting wit. During Q&A, as to whether he had “sold out,” Rubin says he prefers the term “taking over.” Hoffman pleads to the audience for radical action: “Democracy to be true to itself, demands dissent. Question authority and you’ll find out it’s illegal, immoral and just plain stupid. I urge you to question authority.” He exits to a standing ovation yet to this day the debate goes on.
