Triumvirs

Synonyms:	The Unholy Three
See also:	New Fandom, Queens Science Fiction League
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The Triumvirs were a group of three prominent fans in early science fiction fandom: William S. Sykora, Sam Moskowitz, and James V. Taurasi. They ran the New Fandom club and also held a great deal of power in the Queens Science Fiction League.

All three Triumvirs were major figures at first, being present at some of the first-ever conventions, but as time went on they were perceived by other fans as being controlling, undemocratic and bent on making their own clubs and projects the biggest names in fandom. Jack Speer's Fancyclopedia gave their "nicknames" as The Mikado of Long Island City (Sykora), Der Fuhrer of Newark Swamps (Moskowitz), and Il Duce of Flushing Flats (Taurasi). These names were given by the Futurians, but Speer also jokingly used them at least a few times in print.

At first William Sykora was the most well-known of the Triumvirs. His ongoing feud with former friend Donald A. Wollheim led to the destruction of the International Scientific Association and the Queens Science Fiction League. After an appeal to Leo Margulies, the QSFL was reinstated under a new charter, under the condition that Sykora and Wollheim never share a chapter of the Science Fiction League again. Sykora joined forces with Moskowitz and Taurasi at this point, while Wollheim and his loyalists formed the Futurians.

The feud between the Triumvirs and the Futurians would eventually culminate in The Great Exclusion Act, in which six Futurians were barred from entering the convention hall at Worldcon 1939. Sam Moskowitz, already known widely in fandom for his articles on professional science fiction, became the most vocal of the Triumvirs in defending their actions, which found only the most muted support from individual fans.

At a special 1941 meeting of the Queens Science Fiction League, two Futurians tried to enter based on an invitation from the club director and secretary; the Triumvirs, who at this point held no elected office in the club, started a confrontation that came to blows and got the entire meeting shut down by the building manager. The director and secretary, Hyman Tiger and Scott Feldman, quit the club after this and became involved in the beginning stages of the National Fantasy Fan Federation. They cited their experiences with "the Sykora clique" as their main concern about organizing another fan club.

After Chicon I, it became known in fandom that Will Sykora had been arrested and released with a warning in a case of child molestation, and Moskowitz succeeded him completely in the public eye. Moskowitz's fannish history The Immortal Storm cemented his position as the most famous of the Triumvirs.

The tide came in and it was a rip-tide. When it went out the Unholy Three went with it. Now Wollheim is getting along nicely---a status that may change with the coming FAPA elections--with just about everybody; and Sykora, because of his stupid, childish pettiness, and for other reasons not so worthy of repetition, has become fandom's pariah, the untouchable, the horrible example. Moskowitz is regarded simply as a not-too-bad guy who got in with a rotten crowd; Taurasi as just a garden-variety dope, born to be a damn fool, but with no native viciousness. But Sykora---! Hitler is in a better psoition than Will---there are a few yaps who actually like Adolf!

Joe Gilbert: "Slan!-der". Fanfare #7 pp. 10-11, Aug. 1941.