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

History

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".^[1]

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,^[2] and a 2004 documentary film by Doug Pray.

Further reading

• Aptheker, Bettina (2006). Intimate Politics: How I Grew Up Red, Fought for Free Speech, and Became a Feminist Rebel. Seal Press. ISBN 158005160X.  
• Laxer, James (2004). Red Diaper Baby: A Boyhood in the Age of McCarthyism. Douglas & McIntyre. ISBN 1553650735.  
• Mishler, Paul C. (1999). Raising Reds. Columbia University Press. ISBN 0231110456.  

References