 Carliner was the youngest of four children of Leon Carliner, a Jewish immigrant grocer from what is now Belarus, and the former Cassie Brooks, who had immigrated from Kremenchuk (present-day Ukraine).He attended McKinley High School in Washington and was active in leftist politics while still in high school.He planned to go to George Washington University until his high school principal wrote a letter in retaliation for Carliner leading a protest over a canceled football game and the university rescinded his admission.