A Better Case Against Michelism
| Meta | |
|---|---|
| Title: | A Better Case Against Michelism |
| Creator: | Robert A W Lowndes |
| Date(s): | 1938 |
| Medium: | |
| Fandom: | Science Fiction |
| Topic: | Michelism/leftism in fandom |
| External Links: | |
| Click here for related articles on Fanlore. | |
A Better Case Against Michelism was an article written by Robert A. W. Lowndes in response to Jack Speer's A Fairly Complete Case Against Michelism. It was published in the August-September 1938 issue of Science Fiction Collector.
The Case
Sam Moskowitz (the chief figure in the Great Exclusion Act that barred Michel, Wollheim and other Futurians from Worldcon 1939) summarized the article in 1948:
[Lowndes] lists several mistakes which he felt had been made in advancing the creed: Naming the movement Michelism, since the average fan would associate the name Michel with communism; the attempt of the "red Michelists" to make this a definite road to a clear-cut goal; too intense propaganda; the failure to "fraternize" rather than "organize" such Michelists as the New York group knew. "Thus we (at least I) bid farewell to the term 'Michelism'," Lowndes concluded, saying that he would no longer argue the subject over the keys of his typewriter. Many readers misconstrued this to mean that Michelism was being abandoned-—overlooking the fact that the term, not the movement itself, had been dropped.Part 1 of The Immortal Storm, in Fantasy Commentator Vol. 11 No. 6
Response
Speer and Lowndes would argue back and forth over the merits of Michelism and its place in fandom in various letters, private and public, until they at last reported having come to terms.
Mr Lowndes has a high opinion of his 'Better Case Against Michelism'. It points out, says he, with utmost frankness the real weaknesses and mistakes of the Michelists, etcetc. Smatter fact, the article in question is very typical of Leftist self-criticism (the only kind they have in Russia), in which the writer picks out a minute miscalculation here and there, unimportant things... but never questioning the ideology's basic rectitude—and then stands aside and smiles, 'See there? I've criticized myself. Now no one else need do so.'I disclaim any responsibility for the misunderstandings re the meaning of the term Michelism (I wonder if they were misunderstandings), since I didn't enter the fray till late spring of 1938, nearly six months after the movement had been launched. A check-back will show that for the first few months after the Convention ([Ed.:] in Philadelphia), the anti-Michelists said almost nothing, the Michelists doing all the talking. If they couldn't make themselves clear in that time, if they took the rope and hanged themselves, I'm not taking an extra two months in Purgatory for it.
The Michelist program is as hard to corner as quicksilver. Lowndes disowns anything Michel says that doesn't jibe with his ideas of what Michelism should be, Wollheim disowns Pohl's, Michel's, and his own earlier statements re Communism and re Michelism, and so it goes.Jack Speer, Voice of the Imagi-Nation issue 3 (September 1939)
Now to Fp's comments in latest Madge-Voice. I do believe that my 'Better Case Against Michelism' was an attempt to recognise & criticise the activities of the michelists up to the time it was written (July, 1938). It was, however, fragmentary, & only intended as an opening for a real criticism from both points of view...I can assure Juffus that the term michelism was greatly misunderstood ... The greatest stumbling-block has been the issue of Communism... However, the issue need be confused no longer. At the meeting of the Futurians on July 4th of this year, the matter was thrashed out among all present (a small % of whom were Communists) & the michelist program determined. & it is in line with the general theory that I have put forward from the start.
Furthermore, by a majority vote, the term 'michelism' for the progressive, socially-conscious movement in fandom was dropped (which is why I always — except when in such a hurry that I don't notice it — put 'michelism' in brackets these days: the term is obsolete) inasmuch as we decided that this thing was too big to be named after any particular person.Lowndes in Voice of the Imagi-Nation issue 4 (December 1940) ["Ackermanese" phonetic spelling removed from original]
Speer added in the same issue, apparently responding to a private communication with Lowndes:
I believe that I did the Michelists injustice at one place in my last letter, where I spoke of their sending up trial balloons and if they got punctured, saying, 'Oh, no, that wasn't Michelism'. I was led into saying more than I meant, in protest against the constantly shifting character of the ideology. A recent letter from Doc indicates that there was much difference of opinion within Michelist ranks over what Michelism should be.Ibid.