W.I.T.C.H., originally the acronym for Women's International Terrorist Conspiracy from Hell, was the name of several related but independent feminist groups active in the United States as part of the women's liberation movement during the late 1960s. The W.I.T.C.H. moniker was sometimes alternatively expanded as "Women Inspired to Tell their Collective History", or "Women Interested in Toppling Consumer Holidays", among other variations. The first W.I.T.C.H. group was established in New York City in October 1968. Its founders were socialist feminists, or "politicos", who had formerly been members of the New York Radical Women group. They opposed the idea advocated by radical feminists that feminist women should campaign against "patriarchy" alone. Instead W.I.T.C.H. advocated for feminists to ally with a range of left-wing causes, to bring about wider social change in the United States. Various scholars have suggested that in embracing the iconography of the witch, W.I.T.C.H. represented forerunners of various forms of feminist-oriented modern Paganism such as Dianic Wicca. Founding Within the women's liberation movement of the United States during the 1960s, there was a division between the "politicos" and the "radical feminists". The politicos were socialist feminists and attributed the oppression of women to capitalism, seeking to ally with other leftist causes – such as the New Left, black liberation movement, student movement, and anti-war movement – in a wider socio-political movement to bring about revolutionary change. Conversely, the radical feminists did not view women's oppression as a symptom of capitalism and wanted women's liberation to remain independent of the wider leftist movement. W.I.T.C.H. was formed when the New York Radical Women (NYRW) split in 1969. The group's main founder was Youth International Party co-founder Nancy Kurshan. Several politicos within the NYRW, most notable Robin Morgan and Florika, were inspired by the actions of the Youth International Party, or "Yippies", which had been founded in December 1967 and which sought to promote its message by shocking and offending mainstream American sensibilities. Morgan, Roz Payne and Sharon Krebs co-founded the group with Kurshan. Other NYRW members, such as Kathie Sarachild and Carol Hanisch disagreed, believing in the need to continue consciousness raising and disliking the idea of adopting deliberate shock tactics. A number of these NYRW politicos then established W.I.T.C.H.; among those involved were Morgan, Florika, Peggy Dobbins, Judy Duffett, Cynthia Funk, and Naomi Jaffe. Unverified claims have been made that the establishment of WITCH was inspired by the decision