Crazie [Vol. 1, No. 1 (June 1969)].

New York, N.Y. Crazie Publications, 1969. 11” x 8½”. Three side-stapled mimeographed leaves + single sheet flyer laid in. Pp. 6. Very good minus: moderately toned and spotted with light corner and edge wear and a few small stains, all more pronounced to flyer.

This is the rare premiere issue of a short-lived newsletter produced by a far-left political group, the Crazies.

Perhaps less remembered than their cohorts the Youth International Party (Yippies) and the Weather Underground, the Crazies were active in New York in 1969. Their signature move was storming banquets and campaign rallies naked, holding a severed pig's head. Leading members included Robin Palmer (active with SDS and Yippies and one of the convictedbomber Weathermen to serve time at Attica), Sharon Krebs (member of the feminist group W.I.T.C.H. and co-founder of the Free University of New York) and George Demmerle (“Prince Crazie”) who turned out to be an FBI informant and was largely responsible for the demise of the group.

This first issue of Crazie was primarily devoted to a ten-point list of “What We Want – What We Believe,” neatly summarized as “equality, justice, jobs, freedom, an end to racism, corruption and terror.” It also noted that “we seriously advocate the overthrow of all politicians,” who “serve no citizens interest but oppress all of us in different ways. Anyone who campaigns for office seriously should be laughed at or shot.” There are political cartoons (mainly attacking “the pigs”), as well as illustrations and a poem in homage to the “Berkeley Brothers” and the Chicago Eight. It also describes their member base: “Crazies are young, Crazies are old. Crazies have bushy hair, long hair, crew cuts, grey hair and sometimes no hair at all . . . Crazies are a kick in the balls to a pig trying to vamp on a brother. Crazies are brothers and sisters to each other. Crazies are Freedom, Peace, and Power to the People.”

Laid into this issue is a handbill featuring the somewhat crazed cartoon “Billy Graham Reaches the Dope Mystics,” originally drawn by Gilbert Shelton and printed in a handful of underground comics and radical zines. This flyer advertises a free meeting to be held on Friday the 13th (of June 1969) sponsored by “Yippies – PL – Crazies – Julie Nixon – KKK – Catholick Church,” urging attendees to bring “sins,” “signs,” “costumes,” “props,” “grass” and “gas.”

The rare introductory newsletter of a New York radical group. OCLC shows scarce holdings of Crazie at five institutions, with this issue at only two. Very good -. Item #4015

Price: $175.00