International Scientific Association
| Fan Club | |
|---|---|
| Name: | The International Scientific Association |
| Dates: | 1928-1938 |
| Founder(s): | |
| Leadership: | Raymond A. Palmer, William S. Sykora |
| Country based in: | United States |
| Focus: | Science Fiction, practical science |
| External Links: | |
| Click here for related articles on Fanlore. | |
The International Scientific Association was founded in 1928. Near the end of 1935, according to Sam Moskowitz's The Immortal Storm, Raymond A. Palmer transferred leadership to William S. Sykora, head of the International Cosmos Science Club. The ICSC absorbed the ISA, taking on its name, membership, history and prestige.
At this stage, according to Moskowitz (who was Donald A. Wollheim's sworn enemy at the time he began writing The Immortal Storm), Sykora teamed up with Wollheim and John B. Michel to leverage the ISA's power against the Science Fiction League, which had expelled all three of them after Wollheim had spread propaganda accusing the SFL of being corporatized. While Michel and Sykora hadn't actually been involved, their expulsion drove them firmly into Wollheim's camp.[1][2]
After the Science Fiction League was more or less destroyed, Sykora resigned as head of the ISA in 1937. Jack Speer's Fancyclopedia (1944) reports that he needed to focus on his college workload, and was also protesting the ISA's shift towards science fiction for science fiction's sake, and away from steering SF fans into practical scientific careers. Wollheim, now the only active officer, found the club in such poor condition that he obtained a consensus from the other members to dissolve it.[3]
Just arrived -- latest and last "International Observer" of the ISA. Gives full details of reasons for discontinuing ISA. Report also just received states that Will Sykora (who resigned owing to the club being too interested in science-fiction and not science) has started a counter ISA with HQ in Philadelphia in an endeavour to build the club into a science-fiction association. If that isn't screwy, what is?GHOST GONE WEST. Novae Terrae #16 pg. 8. Aug-Sept. 1937.
Sykora returned in 1938 to argue that the club had never been officially dissolved because only New York members had been polled, but he wasn't able to gain enough to support to restore it. His failed motion was presented at the First National Science Fiction Convention. By this time the Queens Science Fiction League had split apart, and the Futurians vs. New Fandom feud was in full swing.
A developement that has created a furore in all progressive stf. circles is the proposed reorganization of the old International Scientific Association. This, the most active stf. club ever formed, was recently dissolved under obscure circumstances not known to the average stf. reader. The ISA Committee for Reorganization is attempting to solve the problem of the questionable legality of this dissolution. It is sparing no hardship or sacrifice to secure to the majority of its members, who are still in the dark, a fair and square deal for all, All former members of the ISA, and all sincere readers of stf. and fantasy literature desiring further information about this worthwhile club should communicate at once with "The ISA Committee for Reorganization" c/o the Editor of this publication.William S. Sykora: Stf Newsflashes! Fantascience Digest #3 pg. 16 (March-April 1938)
It was unanimously agreed [at the Newark Convention] that there must be some organization to sponsor the [World Convention] next year, but whether this organization will be the ISA or a new fan club is a debatable point. Naturally, the Wollheim group could not permit the ISA to be reorganized as this would be reconstructing what they destroyed. However, the ISA will be reorganized, and only the future can tell whether the World Convention will be sponsored by this great organization.There were a large number of magazines, pamphlets, etc. distributed at the convention. Most of them were quite good, both of manner of reproduction and material contained therein. However, there were a few utterly stupid handbills distributed by the CPASF(Communist Party's Agitators in Science Fandom-thanks to Jack Speer) telling all fans to write to TWS because a certain employee received his walking papers. Too bad. Another asked "Who are the Friends of the ISA?" and denounced those who plan to reorganize it as deadly enemies of the organization. Such inane and stupid statements as: "We oppose firmly snf [sic] unhesitatingly all attempts made to slander, befoul and besmirch the name of the ISA," and "dragging its proud flag into the dust," etc. This type of Wollheimish drivel goes on for five paragraphs, and then requests all those who sympathize with them to join the "Friends of the ISA". And he expects the fan world to consume that baloney!
Robert A. Madle: "Fantaglimmerings" in Science Fiction Collector #19 pp. 29-31 (May 1938)
At the last convention I met many old friends besides making new ones. Among the former was Dave Kyle, who happens to be a personal friend. Having exhausted the usual conversation, the talk turned toward the organization of a new club to take the plans of the defunct ISA.... I was enthused enough over the idea to warrant the transferring of my attention from the reorganization of the ISA to this new project.During the convention Mr. Kyle brought this idea to the attention of the chairman, but it was finally put off until the discussion afterwards. Indeed the flames of discord had already begun to smoulder, bursting forth during the discussion....
John James Weir: "Signing the Petition" in Science Fiction Collector #23 pp. 6-8 (Jan. 1939)
The Futurians suspected Sykora would try to resurrect the ISA once again at the first Worldcon in 1939.
References
- ^ Moskowitz, Sam. The Immortal Storm. 1954. Hyperion Press, 1974, pp. 48-50.
- ^ Wollheim, letter in Voice of the Imagi-Nation issue 4 pg. 11 (November 1939): "I should like to say here and now that the so-called Wollheim-everybody else feuds are for the most part misnamed and based upon superficial misunderstandings. The correct terms for those feuds should be Sykora-Clark, Sykora-Kirshenblit, Sykora-Schwartz and not mine. I did achieve some prominence in each because as a friend of Sykora I naturally took his side and since I was more in the fan world's eye, I was mistaken for the chief antagonist. But it was always Sykora who first engineered these squalls and carried them on."
- ^ ISA article on Fancyclopedia. Text quoted from Jack Speer's Fancyclopedia I (1944).