The Great Exclusion Act

Synonyms:
See also:	Futurians, Worldcon
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The Great Exclusion Act was the impromptu decision to bar six Futurians (known at the time as Michelists) from the 1939 Worldcon. At least four other Futurians were allowed to enter, but many considered the events to be a sign of cliques forming in the small space of science fiction fandom.

The convention committee members who made the decision were Sam Moskowitz, William S. Sykora, and James V. Taurasi, all members of New Fandom and the Queens Science Fiction League. The Futurians expelled from the convention hall were Donald A. Wollheim, Robert A. W. Lowndes, Cyril Kornbluth, Jack Gillespie, Frederik Pohl and John B. Michel.

Leadup

Futurianism/Michelism was a leftist movement led by Donald A. Wollheim and John B. Michel. At the 1937 Third Eastern Science Fiction Convention, Wollheim delivered a speech written by Michel called Mutation or Death! that caused much controversy and was considered by some to be either politically offensive, or simply a distraction that had no place in fandom. Science fiction itself was a new frontier at the time, in contrast to the older fantasy and horror genres, and some science fiction fans with liberal politics saw their fandom activities as being of a kind with other progressive movements such as Esperanto, spelling reform, and rocket science. Prominent fans like Forrest J Ackerman and Morojo, who later sided with the Futurians after the Exclusion Act, were major proponents of Esperanto and of Ackerman's own style of simplified spelling in particular. Futurianism was intended to be a similar integration of leftist activism into science fiction fandom.

The New York Futurian club itself was founded in 1937 following the collapse of the International Scientific Association and the Greater New York Science Fiction League. John Michel, Donald Wollheim, Frederik Pohl and Robert A. W. Lowndes were the most prominent members of the club, and Michel is said to be the one who introduced the other club members to Marxist politics. In the aftermath of Mutation or Death!, the movement became known as Michelism in honor of him as the author of the speech. Sides were already forming in broader fandom. Jack Speer authored the article A Fairly Complete Case Against Michelism, to which Futurian Robert Lowndes responded with A Better Case Against Michelism, in which he argued that the name was already outdated and made a case from the inside for some reforms that would help the Futurian cause, such as downplaying the association with Communism.

There was other pre-existing bad blood between some prominent Futurians and the Triumvirs. Donald Wollheim and Will Sykora had once been good friends, who teamed up with John B. Michel in a 1935 fan campaign targeting Wonder Stories and the Science Fiction League. Sykora managed to absorb Raymond A. Palmer's International Scientific Association into his own club, and they used the new ISA's power to essentially destroy the SFL. Sykora then headed the International Scientific Association, organizing cons like the Second Eastern before resigning later in 1937. The club was then handed over to officer Donald Wollheim, who found its internal affairs to be in such bad order that he obtained permission from the other members to disband it. Sykora later objected and tried to argue that the ISA had never been legally dissolved, but was unable to find enough support to restore the club. At the 1938 Newark Convention he was still trying to reorganize it, and Wollheim and his new friends were distributing pamphlets against the ISA's resurrection. David A. Kyle tried to argue the point with Sykora, who lost his temper and appointed a new con committee for the upcoming Worldcon in 1939. This involved kicking Wollheim and others off the one that already existed. Other fans considered this foul play, especially since Sam Moskowitz was the chairman and not Sykora, and Kyle put together a petition against Sykora that was signed by a number of people.

The Greater New York chapter of the Science Fiction League had also fallen apart in 1938 after Wollheim and his faction had attempted to send a delegate to the American Youth Congress. James V. Taurasi opposed this due to the expense involved, and after an unsuccessful attempt to impeach Taurasi, the Wollheimists tried to have Sykora suspended from the club in absentia. Taurasi refused to allow this, and the Wollheimists managed to impeach him, leading to his resignation along with a number of other members. The chapter was disbanded, and Sykora began the Queens Science Fiction League under a new charter, while Wollheim and his supporters started the Futurians.

Wollheim stated in a 1939 letter to Voice of the Imagi-Nation that he'd sided with Sykora in a number of intra-fandom feuds before the ISA fell apart. He now blamed Sykora for the feuds and felt that he'd gotten a bad rap in fandom because his name was more prominent. He and other Futurians disputed Jack Speer's version of events as given in Speer's 1939 Up to Now.

According to Futurian David Kyle, Sam Moskowitz joined forces with Sykora and James V. Taurasi as the leaders of the New Fandom club (founded 1938), and the Futurians and New Fandom/Queens Science Fiction League considered themselves at war due to a combination of personal fannish resentment, political differences, and the fact that both groups were vying to become "leaders" of fandom at large. The Futurians were angry about having several members removed from the Worldcon committee and thought the Triumvirs were monopolizing the con, and the Triumvirs thought the Futurians were planning to start trouble at their event.

The Exclusion Act

In July 1939, the bad blood between New Fandom and the Futurians boiled over after a set of pamphlets printed by David A. Kyle was discovered hidden behind a radiator. Kyle himself, along with three other Futurians, was able to make it into the convention hall, but Donald A. Wollheim, Robert A. W. Lowndes, Cyril Kornbluth, Jack Gillespie, Frederik Pohl and John B. Michel were all refused entry. Wollheim, Lowndes, Pohl and Michel had become known as the Quadrumvirate. Sam Moskowitz, Will Sykora and James V. Taurasi, the Worldcon officials who made the impromptu decision to ban them, were known as the Triumvirs. According to Jack Speer's Fancyclopedia, the Triumvirs had already considered refusing the Futurians entry due to personal enmity between the clubs, and that Futurians in question were only stopped at the door for that reason. The New Fandom and Futurian groups were still arguing it out when a stash of hidden pamphlets were discovered and proved to be the final straw.

Jack Speer's 1944 Fancyclopedia reports that Taurasi was the first to stop the six Futurians, at which point "some pushing and shoving" took place, and that Moskowitz then came out of the hall and the two groups argued back and forth for about fifteen minutes. Moskowitz then sent for the building superintendent but was unable to make contact. As Moskowitz went to look for Sykora, another fan handed him a copy of Kyle's pamphlet: A Warning! A stash of copies was then discovered behind a radiator, and the group of six were kicked out.

According to multiple sources, the six Futurians hung around the outside of the con hall for the rest of the first day, trying to appeal to other fans for support. On the second day a few other Futurians joined them; Dick Wilson and Leslie Perri were the most passionate in their appeals. Jack Speer's con report in Cosmic Tales says that copies of A Warning! were passed around the con, and by the end the Triumvirs had figured out that Kyle alone was responsible--although Speer didn't believe it himself. He also said that he learned of the Exclusion from some fans from Philadelphia who picked him up, saying, "We've got to get up there and pound some sense into Jimmy and Will."

Speer's Fancyclopedia reports that some fans at the con tried to convince the Triumvirs to revoke the ban, including David Kyle, who took the floor "on a pretext" and tried to move for the other Futurians to be admitted, but Will Sykora as the chairman "talked a while and changed the subject." Dale Hart nearly walked out when Kyle's approach failed.

On the third day, Futurians and some sympathizers met at a free mini-con in Brooklyn and discussed the events of Worldcon. Jack Speer said that Milton A. Rothman, Forrest J Ackerman, Morojo, Dale Hart, Dick Wilson and others were all absent from a softball game put on by the con, and that most people assumed they were with the Futurians.

A Warning!

David Kyle, writing in 1989, reported that while Sam Moskowitz tried to present an objective version of events in his 1954 fannish history The Immortal Storm, he had in fact redacted key parts of Kyle's pamphlet A Warning! in order to make it sound more inflammatory than it really was. The pamphlet was written from the perspective of the Futurians, some of whom were Communists and who were defined by their attempts to incorporate leftism into fandom. However, most of the text was actually about complaints with the Triumvirs themselves, warning that they were planning to run Worldcon "dictatorially" and citing the way they had been running the Queens Science Fiction League, along with events at the Third Eastern Science Fiction Convention.

One section that was printed in The Immortal Storm read:

The World's Science Fiction Convention of 1939 in the hands of such heretofore ruthless scoundrels is a loaded weapon in the hands of such men. This weapon can be aimed at their critics or can be used to blast all fandom. But YOU, the reader of this short article, are the ammunition. It is for YOU to decide whether you shall bow before unfair tactics and endorse the carefully arranged plans of the Convention Committee. Beware of any crafty speeches or sly appeals. BE ON YOUR GUARD!

David Kyle, 1939: A Warning! (reprinted by Kyle in Mimosa 6, 1989)

A section redacted from Immortal Storm read:

Who are we that have published this? We are science fiction fans, young men who believe that science fiction is a new type of literature which must not have its future destroyed by any selfish interests. We believe that free speech, cooperation, and democratic acts and thoughts must be granted to science fiction fandom. This pamphlet was NOT published by the Queens Science Fiction League. Likewise, it was NOT published by the Futurian Society of New York. Nor by "communists". Nor by "Fascists". Nor by any other clique or organization. This is published by a group of science fiction fans for no other purpose than to assure the person who attends the Convention a voice in the Convention, and to set them on their guard against any un-American dictatorial, or subversive management of the Convention. DESPITE ANYONE, OR ANYTHING, THE 1939 WORLD'S SCIENCE FICTION CONVENTION IS BOUND TO BE A SUCCESS! And if the Convention Committee should decide that democratic methods are best we will be the first to admit that they deserve full credit and praise for this gathering for the three days of July first, second and third. MAY SCIENCE FICTION PROSPER!

Ibid.

While Kyle technically disavowed Communism/Michelism and claimed the pamphlet didn't represent the Futurians, the content was clearly motivated by the ongoing feud between the Futurians and the Triumvirs.

Discrepancies

While Jack Speer's Fancyclopedia is one of the main primary sources for early fandom history, his accounts there and elsewhere contain inaccuracies and inconsistent statements. His con report in Cosmic Tales (Summer 1992) says that two of the Triumvirs had wanted to exclude "the Quadrumvirate", misstating the number of people involved on both sides. (Sykora arrived after Taurasi and Moskowitz kicked the Futurians out) In the same con report, he says that despite multiple people at the con telling him Kyle alone was responsible for A Warning, including Sam Moskowitz himself, he doesn't believe it, choosing to blame Wollheim and Michel due to the tone and the fact that it was signed by an "Association". He also says that fans from all sides, including Moskowitz and Sykora, had pointed out a number of inaccuracies in his fannish history Up To Now, which was distributed at the con and included events in the Futurian-New Fandom feud.

Many accounts of the confrontation at Worldcon draw on Speer's version of events in Fancyclopedia and say that a set of Communist pamphlets were discovered behind a radiator, prompting Moskowitz, Sykora and Taurasi to bar the six Futurians from entry. However, according to Donald A. Wollheim's account of events, The First Side - The True Side, there were actually two different sets of pamphlets. John B. Michel and Frederik Pohl had mimeographed a set of pamphlets on Michelism that they intended to hand out at the convention. Meanwhile Kyle, unbeknownst to anyone else, had also printed a set of his own yellow pamphlets, titled A Warning! Rather than promoting Michelism or Communism, Kyle's pamphlets were largely concerned with personal complaints against Sykora and company, accusing them of planning to run Worldcon undemocratically, the way they'd been running New Fandom and the Queens Science Fiction League. Speer in his 1944 Fancyclopedia says that Michel and Pohl had personally printed and hidden A Warning!, but in fact adds in the very next paragraph that they had no knowledge it was there. Wollheim's account reconciles this, lines up with David Kyle's 1989 description of events, and explains why exactly A Warning! was the final straw.

The First Side - The True Side says that when Will Sykora arrived at noon, he told Wollheim and the others that New Fandom had decided weeks ago to exclude the Futurians from the con. Speer says the topic had been discussed, but they didn't come to a firm decision. His Fancyclopedia entry on the Greater New York Science Fiction League also inaccurately describes the American Youth Congress as "a Communist front organization."

Contemporary Reactions

Some fans rallied behind the Michelists out of sympathy with their cause; others disagreed with their politics or simply with their goal of integrating politics into fandom. Most, however, were agreed on their dislike of the Triumvirs, who were seen as officious and tyrannical. Very few fans expressed outright support for their decision at Worldcon, feeling that the trio were overstepping and trying to make themselves the authorities of all fandom.

First Person Accounts

Possibly the first account was issued as a zine by Leslie Perri, a member of the Futurians who wrote an open letter to William Sykora on the final day of Worldcon. In Your Teeth "Gentlemen" accused Sykora of tyrannical and egotistical behavior and announced to all three Triumvirs, "We mean to finish you in the interest of justice which cannot exist until your strong arm tactics are exposed to world science fiction."

Sam Moskowitz refused to go into much depth in his clubzine for New Fandom, but he mentioned the events briefly in their special convention issue:

There was a little trouble at first when some communists attempted to break in with a stack of communistic and anti-convention booklets. It was finally necessary to call the police to keep them out, but luckily their attempts to ruin the day for the scientifictionists who had sacrificed so much to make this event a grand success were frustrated. This was virtually the only bit of shoddiness at the Convention.

Moskowitz in New Fandom, issue 6 page 5 (January 1940)

At some point between October and December of 1939, Moskowitz also published an article in Science Fiction Collector titled There ARE Other Sides. He wrote an article in Fantasy-News explaining that a survey of fans had cleared New Fandom of all wrongdoing in the Exclusion Act. Bob Tucker found himself included in Moskowitz's statement and corrected Moskowitz: he said he'd never seen the article or had Moskowitz ask about it. Moskowitz then wrote in to Le Zombie to dispute this, saying that he had in fact asked Tucker about the article at a recent con. Tucker admitted that he now remembered this, but pointed out that in Moskowitz's own words, Tucker had told him at the con that he hadn't seen the article at all, and therefore couldn't have "cleared him" of all wrongdoing. (See Public Headache Dept.)

Donald A. Wollheim printed his own version of events in Science Fiction Collector, in an article titled The First Side - The True Side. Among other things, he denied that anyone from the Futurians had tried to "break in" and said they'd never made any contact with the police.

Moskowitz later followed up with his 1959 history The Immortal Storm. David A. Kyle would dispute Moskowitz's honesty in a 1989 article for Mimosa on the Exclusion Act.

Will Sykora reported in a January 1940 issue of Fantasy-News that he'd received a "smutty 'Christmas' card with the very vile remark 'Here is something else to screw your friends with' written on it." He said the card was postmarked from Brooklyn and offered a reward of $25.00 cash for information on the sender's identity. Whatever the actual facts behind this incident, Sykora most likely believed it was Donald Wollheim, who'd formerly been a friend and prominent ally of his in several feuds, including the International Scientific Association's war with the Science Fiction League.

Other Fans

Bob Tucker (a member of the New Fandom collective) wrote in the August 1939 issue of his newszine Le Zombie:

The Convention was announced "for all science fiction fans" and "open to the public" (or words to that effect). For one group to bar another groups entrance, because of personal or political causes, is....well, unmanly, to be mild. It's grossly unfair. Now, I am not a Communist, nor a michelist, and Wollheim and I differ, no doubt, upon a muletitude of things.....but that dosn't give me the right to bar him from a gathering (of interest to him as well as me) because I don't like him. I rather believe that happening will be a blot upon an otherwise perfect affair, and considered so not only by the Wollheim faction, but by every fair-minded fan as well. NEW FANDOM, we spank your hands!

Le Zombie issue 10 page 3 (August 1939)

In September 1939, issue 3 of Voice of the Imagi-Nation printed a full-page statement in support of the Futurians by the LASFL. Our Reaction to the "Exclusion Act" was apparently the origin of the term Exclusion Act. Editors Forrest J Ackerman and Morojo had been present at the convention and had tried to argue for the Futurians to be admitted. Later, Morojo herself wrote a letter defending herself from certain personal accusations made by Sam Moskowitz in his account of the affair. The LASFL also printed out a circular polling fans on "the actions of the Michelists". It was apparently distributed at the Philadelphia Conference of 1939. Moskowitz insisted in several zines that the circular had been misleading, and that he'd obtained signed statements from Mark Reinsberg and Erle Korshak that they'd been misled by the circular's phrasing.

Robert A. Madle's article Philadelphia -- Convention City, published in Ad Astra (November 1939), cast the Michelists as a disrupting force in fandom who had ruined the Third Eastern Science Fiction Convention in 1937. He mentioned their boycott of the 1938 Philadelphia Conference.

Futurian Richard Wilson wrote in Voice of the Imagi-Nation issue 4: "Dear Youse: Especially gratifying to one who, but by the tarter on his teeth, escaped oustation at the notorious 'World' convention is your official stand on the Exclusion Act as printed on page 1 of Votl-M. Thanks."

Robert Lowndes wrote in the same issue (with Ackermanese phonetic spelling removed):

Speaking of the Convention, I cannot but repeat our contention that to regard the 'exclusion act' as a tactic resultant entirely out of personal matters is to ignore, grossly, a number of important facts. It was not merely six fans who were excluded, it was any & all vestige of free, intellectual discussion,on the part of fans,of those things of real, vital interest to them. Again, that it is this dread of free thought & intellectual trends in fandom, which is the keynote of the entire 'exclusion act'. It is true, that the final act was motivated to a large extent by purely personal feelings: but these personal feelings, these local feuds, originally arose between a faction which demanded intellectuality in fandom & those who dreaded, denied, & sought to suppress it. ...it has been essentially the representatives of new frontiers of thought in fandom versus reactionary-minded fans. Only when this motivating factor is understood do all the feuds, personal-issues, & resultant actions become comprehensible .

&, at the risk of saying 'I told you so' let me repeat a statement I made some time ago in the 'Science Fiction Fan'. (Article entitled 'What's New About New Fandom'.) 'We have here an open, reactionary axis whose purpose is to present stf and fandom to the world as a harmless, meaningless form of escapism,' devoid of anything mature or intellectual'. These are not the exact words, but is the gist of the statement.) I present for exhibit A, the action of the invention Committee, exhibit B, the proceedings within the Convention Hall, & exhibit C, the masterly writeup TIME magazine gave to fandom.

Not only the undemocratic exhibition which disgraced fandom, but also, the presentation of stf & fandom to the world as meaningless balderdash for children & morons is what must never be permitted to recur.

Voice of the Imagi-Nation issue 4 (December 1939)

Speer wrote in to contradict Lowndes' reaction to his history Up To Now:

Doc is confusing rights and powers on the 'purpose of s-f' thing. I suppose that any little minority does have the right to figure out its own purpose for science-fiction; but not the power to enforce that idea (and I used the word 'could', not 'had a right to'). Doc has the weakness of so many Reds, in believing that anyone that makes money on a thing must perforce be all materialistic and mercenary and reactionary in all matters remotely appertaining thereunto. I grant you that Ray Palmer is enough to scuttle a man's faith in stfandom, but there are many examples of sincere pros who do care for science-fiction and fandom apart from anything they may make off of it. Is Asimov suddenly an inhuman beast because he's made money off stf, or Rothman, Youd, Warner, et al? ...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.

Joseph Gilbert wrote:

Speer's history was decidedly sordid. lt read as if someone had gathered up all of the hates, prejudices and petty jealousies, that have clogged the pipes of the stream of life, since the world was first begun. Wolheim—-- I wonder how different Fandom might have been without him. Hatred personified, is what he might be called. And yet, dam'it, I feel sorry for him. He did try, even though he brought fandom back to the dark ages, to rise it to something significent. He pulled out the cornerstone in his drooling fanatical attacks, and brought the entire edifice tumbing down on his head, I know. But he has received so blasted little from his long activity in fandom. When he retires, he will go with few pleasant memories. Rather will he take with him a bitter rankling heart, a black, bitter, knowledge of a wasted life. He deserves it, but I still feel sorry for him. The strange thing about it is that he still expects to surmount human nature to create an Utopia, when he can't even control himself. The same goes for Micheal, Pohl, and the others of this group of amateur politicians. I hate to see Dick Wilson get mixed up in such a futuristic slugging bout, though. He's too sensible.

Ibid.

Frances Alberti, member of the Queens Science Fiction League and later wife of Will Sykora, wrote a letter titled Finally Convinced in New Fandom's special convention issue (January 1940). She voiced her support for the Triumvirs and cited the Futurians' alleged behavior at the Philadelphia Conference as proof that their main goal at Worldcon was to disrupt fandom.

In issue 5 of Voice of the Imagi-Nation, Joseph Gilbert wrote in as a rare voice of mild support for the Triumvirs:

...The entire thing was entirely unpremeditated, where the New Fandom lads are concerned, I sincerely believe. But the behavior of the futuries was obvious deliberately designed towards sabotage. They were out to stir up trouble, and they were going to stir up trouble, whether they permitted to enter or not. They've stirred up enough outside now, what they would have done inside is a matter of conjecture. It wouldn't have been pleasant I know. There isn't anything subtle about the above, but the time has long gone by for subtlety. If anyone has any doubts left as to the intentions of the futuries, then I invite their attention to the Philly Con. Then too, while all this childish uproar over fair play, was going on, what behaloed guardian, of the righteous, thought to ask Sam [Moskowitz] for his side of the affair? Not one damn person. That was a beautiful example of fair-mindedness, wasn't it? No wonder Sam was so mad in that piece in the Collector (39 Aug). One of the bluntest, most stinging articles I have ever read. It wasn't entirely unjustified either. No more unjustified than this entire affair has been.

Voice of the Imagi-Nation issue 5 (April 1940)

CSYoud wrote in the same issue:

Glad to see you come out hot and strong against the Exclusion Act (snappy titling), even tho it got SaM's easily-roused back up. But Sam is an annoying person altogether, and you may tell him so from me. The first STUNNING SCIENTIFAN (wattaname!—) has a thoroughly obnoxious article by him, in which he casts nasty slights on everyone from Tucker to 4SJ, via Wiggins, and praises himself up to where heaven would be if I weren't in atheistic company. Gentlemen, my considered opinion is --- he has disgraced the name of Samuel and is no longer worthy to be so called! As another Samuel I hereby christen him the Mosk-Rat, so to be named unto perpetuity!

Ibid.

Lowndes wrote in response to Joseph Gilbert's letter in issue 4:

...if you could have seen the broad grins on all of our faces when we read Speer's accounts of the Wollheimosities you might have slightly different ideas on the subject. We all agree that Jack's 'Up to Now' is a suberb bit of fan-fiction. Don thanks you for your sorry, by the by. While you're at it, shed a few tears for Fojak -- we understand that he's had a tough time of it since Moskowitz drove him out of fandom. (Vide Fantasy-News after Jan. '40.)... Anent the Wollheim feuds -- all I can add to Don's letter is that, back in 1936 when I first met the gang, Will Sykora was the accepted leader and that was that. It wasn't until Wll resigned abruptly from the ISA that Don began to take the lead. Might add that the notes about Don being a [member of the Young Communist League] way back in 1936 and 37 is so much bull and Jack has made an ass of himself by giving the W[ollheim] communist motives before he had them. ...And, as you know, since we are planning to join Technocracy, that rules out membership in any political body etc. No need to draw diagrams, I trust.

Ibid.

A letter from Lowndes published in VoM four months previously had stated that he and Speer were corresponding about the matter and trying to work things out, and Speer would later issue an apology for his original statements.

Jack Chapman Miske sent a letter to Voice of the Imagi-Nation that was published in part, with a note from editors Morojo and Forrest J Ackerman that he had "characterized the Exclusion Act as The Bolshevik Barring":

However, just because I side with Mosklowitz [sic], Taurasi, & Co. in this particular item, don't think I do always. The fan world has no place for ruling cliques, irregardless [sic] of whether their purpose is, as with the Bolos, political agitation, or, as with M.-T. & Co., personal aggrandizement. I have no more use for the lopsided reporting of FANTASY NEWS than I have for that of the Communists. I must say, tho, that the latter are by far the worst, since they resort to out-and-out lies, hypocrisy, and personality-villification; irregardless of their degree, however, each side lies and distorts unbearably. That's the big thing. I can't and do not indorse [sic] the New Fandom dictatorship of Moskowitz and Taurasi; I do not indorse the incredible attitude Taurasi has shown in his handling of the records of the FAPA; I do not like, at least, Moskowitz' exaggerations of his own importance and his absurd ideas us to his omnipotence and the way in which presumably his word must be taken as law. However, on the other side of the ledger, the aforementioned hypocrisy of the Communists...and their repeated efforts to dominate the fun field by method foul or fair, for purely subversive purposes, is deserving of far greater criticism. The longer each side continues its juvenile tactics and gross unfairness, the more friends each will lose...if either has any, any longer. I think they can count me out.

....Ah -----a letter by Lowndes, he's always lying about something, so I'll have plenty to do, I suppose. ~~ And my suspicions are confirmed. His remarks about the Futurian's having decided to keep Communism out of fan affairs are laughable... ~~ Incidently, would you say that page for page, Astonishing, edited by Super-Bolo Pohl, is more sociological, or even more literary, than Palmer's AMAZING? Well, well, imagine that....

Voice of the Imagi-Nation Issue 6 (April 1940)

At the end of the same issue of Voice of the Imagi-Nation, the editors reprinted Milton A. Rothman's Science Fiction is Escape Literature, which expressed support for the Futurians.

Aftermath

Then I turned my eyes towards New York. In the mind's eye I looked at the fans of that great city. How I was saddened at the spectacle that met my eye! The great, glorious Queens League now but a smouldering ember of it’s former self. The small deadly flame that was those radicals of fandom -- the Futurians -- running the city, dominating it with their dangerous doctrines! Two of them editing professional magazines; a half dozen more writing successfully for them! Oh, the horror of it! And my friends, the real fans of the city, floundering in the depths of darkness. Truly, New York City is a fan city of the past. If I could but turn time back, divert the branches of time, give the deserving fans a break!

"The Star Stomper" by Bob Tucker writing as "Foot Pad". Le Zombie, issue 42 pg. 11 (Sept. 1941)

By 1941, a number of Futurians had gone pro and New Fandom was fading from relevance. William S. Sykora lost prominence in fandom after Chicon I, where reports circulated that he'd been arrested and released with a warning in a case of child molestation. However, there was one last scuffle in January, when Futurians Dick Wilson and Dan Burford showed up at a meeting of the Queens Science Fiction League after an invitation from the club director Hyman Tiger. Jack Speer reported in Fancyclopedia I that Moskowitz and Sykora physically attacked Burford, and along with Taurasi, Mario Racic and Frances Alberti Sykora, drove the two Futurians out of the meeting. Robert Lowndes gave an account of the incident in an issue of Le Vombiteur, and Tiger confirmed its general accuracy.

In August 1941, Joe Gilbert wrote in Slan!-der, his column for Fanfare, that public opinion had reversed on the Futurians and New Fandom, including his own. He referenced not just Sykora's arrest, but a general unpleasant attitude that included saying some recent fan suicides had been caused by immature intellects feeling humbled by the brilliance of other fans--such as William S. Sykora. Gilbert added that Sykora had also said Gilbert himself would soon commit suicide. Gilbert now felt that Wollheim's bitterness and sharp tongue were "acquired traits", while Sykora just had a bad personality to start with.

The Futurian-New Fandom feud began to fade from zines, but since most of the major players stayed active in fandom for the rest of their lives, it was remembered for a long time. In late 1943 Harry Honig (editor of Arcana) wrote to Voice of the Imagi-Nation to comment on another fan's retirement from active fandom, naming Sam Moskowitz's conversion to Michelism as one of several equally shocking possibilities:

Hooooray at last something has jolted Harry Honig out of his eternal scilence! What can it be has Has [sic] Unger sold the first Amazing for a nickle? NO! Has Ackerman's brain finally snapped No! (or has it?)Has Moscowitz been transformed into a Michelist? No! Has one of the FAPA members turned out a super 100 page fanzine with six litho covers! GAWD NO!------- but something more spectacular, more magnificent, more fantastic...

Harry Honig: Behind the Hate Ball. VoM issue 28 pg. 10 (Nov. 1943)

In 1964, a number of prominent fans signed a statement from the Pacificon II committee, endorsing their right to bar fans from the convention. The decision was prompted by child molestation accusations against Walter Breen. Some fans felt that Breen should be allowed to attend the convention despite this. The fans supporting the con committee's right to bar Breen from attending included David Kyle and Sam Moskowitz, who had been on opposing sides in the first Exclusion. Jack Speer and Robert A. Madle also signed in support. In 1989, Moskowitz suggested that in light of this event, a "reevaluation" of the Great Exclusion Act was in order.

David Kyle, the original author of A Warning! wrote in 1989:

By 1939, fandom was hardly a decade old. "Readers" had become "fans" and the activists were young; very young. Teenagers were the troops and boys in their twenties were the "mature" leaders. In this cauldron of the 1930s, many young idealists who were science fiction fans decided that science fiction not only dreamed of brave new worlds, but that sf was grounded in reality and that fans should become activists as well as dreamers. That was the backdrop for the clash between the Futurians and the New Fandom people. One or the other was going to shape fandom for the future. That was the heart of the matter. That was what bubbled and burned and swirled and festered behind the scene at that very first Worldcon. The adolescent behavior by all parties, myself included, was understandable, if not commendable. We took ourselves seriously, too seriously. Fortunately, the "professionals" at the time weren't interested in playing our games. They brought maturity to the event, which kept the first Worldcon from self-destructing.

Kyle in Mimosa 6: The Great Exclusion Act of 1939

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• Timeline of the New Fandom-Futurians Feud