Timeline of the New Fandom-Futurians Feud

The feud between the Futurians and New Fandom had its roots during the period Jack Speer called First Fandom: 1933-1936. It began in earnest during his First Transition (1936-37) and more or less defined his idea of Second Fandom and the Second Transition (covering 1937-1940). By the time it faded away, it had disrupted multiple conventions and spilled into nearly every U.S. fanzine of the era. Several participants held onto the grudge for the remainder of their lives.

1935

• Donald A. Wollheim begins public campaign against Hugo Gernsback's Wonder Stories and Science Fiction League; he and a number of authors band together to complain that Wonder Stories hadn't been paying their authors
• Charles D. Hornig of the Science Fiction League publicly expels Wollheim, along with William S. Sykora and John B. Michel, accusing all three of scheming to destroy the SFL. Sykora and Michel, previously uninvolved, join forces with Wollheim against the SFL
• Sykora, president of the International Cosmos Science Club, manages to absorb the prestigious International Scientific Association, taking its name and using its power to crush the Science Fiction League
• Wollheim and Sykora partner in several more feuds against Julius Schwartz, G.G. Clark, etc.

1936

• William Sykora writes The Thousandth Raid, a dramatization of the ISA's war against the SFL
• October 22: The First Convention in Philadelphia. Oswald Train, Donald A. Wollheim, Milton A. Rothman, Frederik Pohl, John B. Michel, William S. Sykora, David A. Kyle, Robert A. Madle, and Herb Goudket all present and on friendly terms

1937

• Donald A. Wollheim and John B. Michel found the Fantasy Amateur Press Association

• February 21: Second Eastern States Science Fiction Convention; International Scientific Association planning. Donald A. Wollheim as chairman; John B. Michel, Frederik Pohl and David A. Kyle all serve on the committee. William Sykora delivers the opening speech as ISA president. Wollheim proposes the first Worldcon; he is appointed again to serve as chairman of the committee
• William Sykora resigns as head of the ISA: his college workload was increasing, and he felt that the ISA was moving away from his personal vision, which was encouraging science fiction fans to pursue careers in practical science
• Donald A. Wollheim, the only remaining active officer, finds the club in bad enough shape to disband it
• Sykora eventually returns and tries to argue that the club was never really dissolved because only the New York members were asked for their vote
• Feud between Wollheim and Sam Moskowitz in The Science Fiction Fan; editor Olon F. Wiggins eventually bans Moskowitz from the publication
• July: Wollheim suggests that the British Science-Fiction Association adopt the ISA's old logo
• October 30: Third Eastern Science Fiction Convention; Donald A. Wollheim reads a speech from John B. Michel called Mutation or Death!, throwing the convention into upheaval. He follows it by introducing a resolution, which fails 12-8. Future Futurian Jack Gillespie votes against it
• Wollheim and Robert A. W. Lowndes start corresponding about Michelism; Lowndes isn't quite convinced about Communism, but agrees to educate himself and think it over
• Wollheim, Michel, Lowndes and Pohl become known as the Quadrumvirate; their leftist movement becomes known as Michelism
• The Michelists attack a story in Astounding Stories called "3000 Years" that appears to be an attack on their values; Lowndes later admits this was a tactical failure that evoked no response from fandom
• The Michelists begin distributing Communist material through the Fantasy Amateur Press Association; Jack Speer objects and multiple members call him a fascist. Lowndes later admits that he's realized Speer is simply politically glib and the "fascist-unconscious"
• Winter: Jack Gillespie and James V. Taurasi edit a special issue of Cosmic Tales together, along with another fan
• December: Donald A. Wollheim publishes What Purpose, Science Fiction?

1938

• FAPA elections:
  • The Futurians fear that an incoming board of Philadelphia members plus Jack Speer might start censoring the mailings, which would mainly affect the Futurians as they'd been breaking the post office's rules about material that could be mailed
  • Wollheim sends a letter to all members accusing certain members of sabotaging the FAPA
  • Futurians sweep the elections, minus James V. Taurasi as Secretary-Treasurer
  • Lowndes later admits that the Futurians jumped to conclusions about the intentions of certain insults towards them, and took Jack Speer's jokes about being a fascist more seriously than they should have
• January: Donald A. Wollheim publishes Commentary on the November "Novae Terrae"

• March: William Sykora's The Thousandth Raid printed in Fantascience Digest

• Spring: Donald A. Wollheim and some of his friends join the Queens Science Fiction League, which already contains William Sykora. The chapter is renamed to the Greater New York Science Fiction League
• May 29: The Newark Convention.
  • Wollheim and friends distribute pamphlets opposing Sykora's efforts to revive the ISA
  • David A. Kyle argues with Sykora on this point. Sykora loses his temper and appoints a new committee for Worldcon 1939
  • Fans protest; Kyle starts a petition against Sykora and gets around 65 signatures
• May: Jack Speer publishes A Fairly Complete Case Against Michelism; Robert A. Madle's column Fantaglimmerings discusses the Newark Convention and says that Wollheim removed him as vice president of FAPA without telling either him or the new vice president
• May to July: Wollheim publishes In Defense of Michelism; Fred Shroyer responds with New Attack on Michelism; further debate in Imagination! follows through July
• July:
  • Sam Moskowitz publishes Disillusion
  • The Wollheim faction of the Greater New York Science Fiction League moves to send a representative to the American Youth Congress. Director James V. Taurasi refuses to consider the motion.
  • The Wollheimists move to impeach Taurasi but fail; later try to have William S. Sykora suspended from the club for failing to attend and pay his dues. Taurasi again refuses and the Wollheimists successfully have him impeached
  • Taurasi and others resign from the club
  • Taurasi turns to Leo Margulies for intervention; Margulies decrees that Wollheim and Sykora can never share a New York chapter of the Science Fiction League again
• Taurasi creates the Queens Science Fiction League under a new charter, along with Sykora and Sam Moskowitz: the three are later called the Triumvirs. They also create New Fandom, which plans Worldcon and is accused of ignoring democratic procedure
• August: Robert A. W. Lowndes publishes A Better Case Against Michelism (directly rebutting Speer's A Fairly Complete Case Against Michelism)
• October: With the Quadrumvirate in a sea of gloom, Wollheim and his friends regroup as the Futurian Society of New York. They decide to withdraw from trying to plan Worldcon and leave New Fandom to it
• Olon F. Wiggins (also a Michelist) bans Sam Moskowitz from his zine The Science Fiction Fan for alleged slander against Wollheim. Lowndes later admits that allowing this was a tactical mistake by the Michelists
• December: Lowndes starts Le Vombiteur and resumes publishing The Vagrant; both report on Michelist news

1939

• More FAPA elections:
  • Daniel McPhail introduces the National Progressive party, which among other things suggests a ban on attacks against religion in FAPA
  • Lowndes prints a complaint about the NP's policies in The Vagrant
  • McPhail responds by attacking Communism, socialism and atheism
  • The NP endorses James V. Taurasi as a candidate
• Olon F. Wiggins writes to Raymond A. Palmer, John W. Campbell and other pro editors, protesting commercialist sponsorship of the cons; Fantasy-News prints a version of his letter to Campbell that the Futurians consider distorted. Wiggins suspects that Campbell personally sent it to Taurasi

• March:
  • Sam Moskowitz publishes Grand Old Fan; Robert A. W. Lowndes publishes What's New About New Fandom?; John B. Michel publishes Speer-Shroyer and Company; Sam Youd publishes The Gap
  • FAPA ballots sent out with several amendments, to be in Taurasi's hands by April 3rd
• April:
  • Taurasi fails to notify anyone about the results of the FAPA ballots and ignores several other rules; Wollheim as Custodian of Ballots brings charges and the election is suspended
  • Walter E. Marconette, unable to investigate for personal reasons, appoints Frederik Pohl and Robert A. W. Lowndes to investigate; they find the ballots illegal but clear Milton A. Rothman and Robert A. Madle of wrongdoing, laying the blame on Taurasi
  • Futurians Dick Wilson and Cyril Kornbluth deliver a message to the Queens Science Fiction League, asking for a joint meeting between the Futurians and the QSFL. They are told not to return.
  • New Fandom announces that they've finally acquired a copy of Metropolis to be screened at Worldcon; Donald A. Wollheim sends a postcard forcing them to clarify that this didn't involve sending money to Nazi Germany
• Jack Speer prints Up To Now, to be distributed at Worldcon; receives some compliments but everyone from Sam Moskowitz to the Futurians to Forrest J Ackerman points out errors
• July 2-4: Worldcon.
  • 2: Wollheim, Michel, Lowndes, Pohl, Kornbluth and Jack Gillespie are expelled from the con in The Great Exclusion Act. Futurians David A. Kyle, Leslie Perri, Dick Wilson and others all make it into the convention hall. Kyle makes a speech and finished by asking chairman Sykora to allow the six in; Sykora refuses. The six expelled members plead their case with passers-by, many of whom agree and try to argue for them unsuccessfully
  • 3: Kyle, Perri and Wilson join the six expelled members outside and continue their appeals
  • 4: Futurians hold a mini-con attended by their sympathizers, including Forrest J Ackerman, Morojo, and Milton A. Rothman, discussing:
    • The Fantasy Amateur Press Association
    • The events of this convention
    • The future of science fiction organizations and democracy in fandom
    • Michelism (they decided to formally rename it at last)
    • The pitches for next year's Worldcon (they decided to back the Illini Fantasy Fictioneers' Chicon I)
  • Leslie Perri prints and distributes In Your Teeth "Gentlemen"
• July: Donald A. Wollheim's column Fantaglimmerings addresses Worldcon
• August:
  • Sam Moskowitz publishes There ARE Other Sides
  • Wollheim states in Fantascience Digest that Street & Smith, publishers of Astounding (among others), are in financial difficulties, based on a mistaken piece of information from a newspaper
• September:
  • The LASFL publishes Our Reaction to the "Exclusion Act" (spearheaded by Forrest J Ackerman); first appearance of the name "Exclusion Act"
  • Part V of Sam Youd's Fanopolis references the Great Exclusion Act
• October 31: Philadelphia Conference of 1939
  • Mark Reinsberg refuses to let Bob Tucker sit with the Futurians in case it jeopardizes New Fandom supporting their bid for Chicago as the 1940 Worldcon site.
  • Sykora and Wollheim nearly come to blows after Sykora says no member of New Fandom has ever slandered anyone and Wollheim says, "That's a lie."
  • The LASFL circulates a poll asking fans their opinions on The Great Exclusion Act
  • Sam Moskowitz asks several fans including Bob Tucker if they've seen There ARE Other Sides

• November:
  • Donald A. Wollheim publishes The First Side - The True Side in response to Moskowitz's There ARE Other Sides
  • Morojo publishes Morojo vs Moskowitz in response to same
  • Robert A. Madle publishes Philadelphia -- Convention City
  • Robert A. W. Lowndes as "Satyricus" announces the publication of "Mein Fanpf" by Wilhelm von Skoora
• November 5: Fantasy-News prints a statement saying that multiple fans have read Moskowitz's version of events and cleared New Fandom of all wrongdoing
• December 2: Bob Tucker denies that he personally cleared New Fandom of all wrongdoing and says he was never asked about Moskowitz' article
• December 30: Bob Tucker publishes Public Headache Dept in response to a letter from Moskowitz

1940

• January:
  • Frances Alberti (soon to be Frances Alberti Sykora) publishes Finally Convinced
  • In response to a legal threat, editor Robert A. Madle prints a public retraction of Donald A. Wollheim's August remarks on Street & Smith; Sam Moskowitz writes to Fantascience Digest to gloat
  • James Taurasi's Fantasy-News is contacted about the news by editor John W. Campbell, and prints an article condemning Wollheim as a "notorious Communist" and liar
  • Wollheim threatens William Sykora with a lawsuit over the Fantasy-News article calling him a member of the Communist party
• February: Fantasy-News prints a retraction and apology for implying that John W. Campbell called Wollheim a member of the Communist party

• March:
  • Milton A. Rothman publishes Science Fiction is Escape Literature
  • Mark Reinsberg, Bob Tucker, Sully Roberds and Erle Korshak publish a statement addressing accusations in Fantasy-News that their con committee rejected offers of financial help from New Fandom
• July: Robert A. W. Lowndes publishes The Michelist Movement in American Fandom
• September 1-2: Chicon I, planned by the Illini Fantasy Fictioneers. Several con reports note a very positive change from New Fandom's handling of Worldcon 1939. The Illini Fantasy Fictioneers dissolve at the end to prevent any repeats of the issues with New Fandom: from now on, con committees will exist only to plan the cons and then dissolve.
• Post-Chicon: William Sykora fades out of prominence after reports circulate that he was arrested and released with a warning in a case of child molestation

1941

• January: Michelists Dick Wilson and Dan Burford attend a meeting of the Queens Science Fiction League after being invited by the director and secretary; the two are physically kicked out by Sykora, Moskowitz, Taurasi and several others
• August: Joe Gilbert reports in Fanfare that public opinion on Donald A. Wollheim has completely reversed after The Great Exclusion Act; Wollheim is getting along with everyone and the Triumvirs are now the most hated members of fandom
• October: In an issue of Amazing Stories, Raymond A. Palmer accuses New Fandom of swarming the magazine with insulting letters
• Fall: The final issue of New Fandom's clubzine is printed with Will Sykora's name conspicuously absent
  • It begins with a formal statement from Sam Moskowitz saying that New Fandom is close to defunct due to lack of funds and placing their future in the hands of fandom at large
  • James V. Taurasi assures Raymond A. Palmer, and fandom at large, that the Futurians are actually the ones organizing the letter-writing campaign against Amazing Stories, and that Donald A. Wollheim has never been part of New Fandom

1944

• Jack Speer publishes his first Fancyclopedia
• Sam Moskowitz begins serializing his history The Immortal Storm

1954

• Sam Moskowitz's The Immortal Storm compiled and published

1958

• March 21: Cyril M. Kornbluth dies at 34 (16 at the time of Worldcon 1939)
• October: Sam Moskowitz prints a never-before-seen manuscript Kornbluth once submitted to him at age 15

1964

• David A. Kyle, Sam Moskowitz, Jack Speer and Robert A. Madle all sign a statement from the Pacificon II committee endorsing their right to exclude accused child molester Walter Breen from the convention

1968

• December 1: John B. Michel dies at 51 (22 at the time of Worldcon 1939)

1977

• Damon Knight publishes The Futurians

1978

• Frederik Pohl publishes his autobiography The Way the Future Was

1989

• August 31: In the program booklet for Noreascon 3, Sam Moskowitz reminisces on the Pacificon II committee statement, and comments that it calls for a reconsideration of The Great Exclusion Act
• David A. Kyle publishes The Great Exclusion Act of 1939, later estimated by Kyle as 800 words of commentary; Sam Moskowitz writes a twelve page response

1990

• November 2: Donald A. Wollheim dies at 76 (25 at the time of Worldcon 1939)

1991

• April 11: James V. Taurasi dies at 73 (21 at the time of Worldcon 1939)

1994

• June 7: William S. Sykora dies at nearly 81 (nearly 26 at the time of Worldcon 1939)

1997

• April 15: Sam Moskowitz dies at 77 (19 at the time of Worldcon 1939)

• David A. Kyle publishes SaM - Fan Forever

1998

• July 14: Robert A. W. Lowndes dies at 82 (23 at the time of Worldcon 1939)

2009

• Frederik Pohl starts a blog called The Way the Future Blogs

2013

• Sept 2: Frederik Pohl dies at 94 (20 at the time of Worldcon 1939)

2016

• September 18: David A. Kyle, last of the nine major players in The Great Exclusion Act, dies at 97 (20 at the time of Worldcon 1939)