Red diaper baby

Red diaper baby describes a child of parents who were members of the Communist Party USA (CPUSA) or were close to the party or sympathetic to its aims.

In their book "Red Diapers: Growing Up in the Communist Left", Judy Kaplan and Linn Shapiro define red diaper babies as "children of CPUSA members, children of former CPUSA members, and children whose parents never became members of the CPUSA but were involved in political, cultural, or educational activities led or supported by the Party".

More generally, the phrase is sometimes used to refer to a child of any radical parent, regardless of that parent's past partisan affiliation (or the affiliation of the child).

"Red Diaper Baby" is also the title of an autobiographical one man show and book by monologist Josh Kornbluth, and a 2004 documentary film by Doug Pray.

Conservative Radio Talk show host Michael Savage uses this term on his radio show referring to individuals who have extreme leftist viewpoints.

Bibliography

*cite book
last = Aptheker
first = Bettina
authorlink = Bettina Aptheker
title =Intimate Politics: How I Grew Up Red, Fought for Free Speech, and Became a Feminist Rebel
publisher = Seal Press
date =2006
id = ISBN 158005160X
*cite book
author = Kaplan, Judy and Shapiro, Linn
title =Red Diapers: Growing Up in the Communist Left
publisher =University of Illinois Press
date =1998
id = ISBN 0252067258
*cite book
last = Kornbluth
first =Josh
authorlink =Josh Kornbluth
title =Red Diaper Baby: Three Comic Monologues (With Mathematics of Change and Haiku Tunnel)
publisher =Mercury House
date =1996
id = ISBN 1562790870
*cite book
last = Laxer
first =James
authorlink =James Laxer
title =Red Diaper Baby: A Boyhood in the Age of McCarthyism
publisher =Douglas & McIntyre
date =2004
id = ISBN 1553650735
*cite book
last = Mishler
first =Paul C.
title =Raising Reds
publisher = Columbia University Press
date =1999
id = ISBN 0231110456

References