Futurians

The Futurian Science Literary Society, whose members are better known as Futurians, was a Brooklyn, New York science fiction fan club active in the late 1930s and early 1940s. Several of its members later became famous science fiction writers, editors, and publishers, and thus much of its drama has been immortalized in memoirs and early sf fandom histories.
The Futurians formed from a splinter group of the Greater New York Science Fiction Club who were politically liberal and interested in relating sf to the real world; the remaining members wanted to limit the scope of the club to sf and renamed their club Queens Science Fiction League after the split. 
Members included Isaac Asimov, James Blish, Virginia Kidd, Damon Knight, Cyril Kornbluth, Robert W. Lowndes, Judith Merril, John B. Michel, Frederik Pohl, Richard Wilson, and Donald A. Wollheim (founder of DAW Books).Asimov, Isaac. In Memory Yet Green: the Autobiography of Isaac Asimov, 1920-1954. New York: Doubleday, 1979. Avon Books, 1980. p. 211.Futurians. Fancyclopedia III. (Accessed 20 December 2013)
Isaac Asimov describes his excitement in joining the club in his memoir In Memory Yet Green.He quotes his diary: "I attended the first meeting of the Futurians and boy! did I have a good time." His younger self goes on to describe what sounds like excruciatingly dull club procedures, which prompts his older self to note that "I had never encountered this sort of thing before and I was fearfully impressed." Asimov, Isaac. In Memory Yet Green: the Autobiography of Isaac Asimov, 1920-1954. New York: Doubleday, 1979. Avon Books, 1980. p. 212. Sam Moskowitz, who was president of the original club, also wrote about the Futurians in The Immortal Storm: A History of Science Fiction Fandom. Asimov remarks in his memoir that Moskowitz's book was painfully dull.Asimov, Isaac. In Memory Yet Green: the Autobiography of Isaac Asimov, 1920-1954. New York: Doubleday, 1979. Avon Books, 1980. p. 209.
In The Futurians (1977), Damon Knight reports that the club dissolved after Donald A. Wollheim sued several other members of the club for libel after they had angrily mimeographed and distributed a document ejecting him from the club. They thought that he had forced John Michel to end an affair with Judith Merril, but Wollheim later said he had no idea and thought that it was Michel's idea to break up with Merril.
== Michelism ==
In the immediate aftermath of Wollheim and Michel's Mutation or Death speech at the 1937 Third Eastern Science Fiction Convention, the Futurians were called Michelists by SF fandom. According to Futurian Robert A. W. Lowndes, he felt for some time that associating the movement with a single person was a bad idea, and in July of 1939 the Futurians apparently voted to discard the name.
Lowndes and Jack Speer had an extended public debate on Michelism/Futurianism, seemingly beginning with Speer's article Fairly Complete Case Against Michelism, to which Lowndes responded in 1938 with A Better Case Against Michelism. Speer accused Michelists of being deliberately vague and engaging in false self-critique so as to discourage anyone else from arguing with them. He felt that the Michelist label itself had become synonymous with Communist fans. In a 1938 essay, Speer predicted that "numerous Young Communist readers of stf, whom most of us would not consider 'fans'..." would prioritize Communism over fandom at the 1939 Worldcon.Jack Speer's After 1939-What? hosted on Fanac.org
In January 1939, Donald A. Wollheim responded to Speer's essay in Voice of the Imagi-Nation issue 1, remarking, "He underrates the effect of the Michelists. Being the only group in stf that knows where it’s going and what it wants and is quite certain of what ought to be the future of stf makes us, large or small, definitely potent."Voice of the Imagi-Nation issue 1, page 9 (January 1939)
At Worldcon 1939, six Futurians were barred from entry after a stash of inflammatory pamphlets was discovered by con chairman Sam Moskowitz.A Warning on Fancyclopedia Robert A. W. Lowndes wrote to Voice of the Imagi-Nation in late 1939 after the Great Exclusion Act, describing the Michelist label as outdated and disavowing any direct links to the Communist label:
An unknown Futurian wrote in to Le Zombie to describe the results of the same conference. (Most likely not Lowndes, who was credited by name for a letter in the same issue.)
== Accusations ==
Aside from political differences, the Futurians were accused by several people of teaming up to flood any magazines run by their enemies with negative reviews. These accusations primarily came from people who already disliked them, but there was more than one such accusation.
Editor Bob Tucker, who took a more neutral stance in the Futurian vs. New Fandom feud and poked fun at both sides, added:
In the final issue of New Fandom's self-titled clubzine, James V. Taurasi printed a message to pro editor Raymond A. Palmer:
Sam Moskowitz, another longtime arch nemesis of the Futurians, repeated the accusations in his fannish history The Immortal Storm, this time saying that in 1935, Wollheim had conspired against the pro magazine Wonder Stories, and organized a number of other fans who'd contributed stories and had yet to receive their payment. According to Moskowitz, most other pro magazines were paying just as late as Wonder Stories, "but they had been unfortunate enough to tangle with a wild-cat of a fan." Immortal Storm adds that in 1941, James V. Taurasi and William S. Sykora flipped the tables on Wollheim and revealed that two magazines he edited hadn't been paying their contributors either.Moskowitz, Sam. The Immortal Storm. 1954. Hyperion Press, 1974, pp. 29-30. Moskowitz, Taurasi and Sykora were Wollheim's main enemies in fandom, and Moskowitz in turn was accused by Futurian-aligned fans of playing fast and loose with the facts on more than one occasion.
Moskowitz further blamed Wollheim for the destruction of Gernsback's Science Fiction League. According to him, in 1935 Wollheim had set out to destroy the SFL along with Wonder Stories. By distributing propaganda, he was able to turn public opinion against the League and eventually trick its director, Charles Hornig, into expelling Wollheim, John B. Michel and William Sykora after publicly naming them as saboteurs. Michel and Sykora hadn't been targeting the SFL so far, but being named as co-conspirators drove them firmly into Wollheim's camp. Sykora, a member of the International Cosmos Science Club, now joined forces with Raymond A. Palmer's International Scientific Association. Palmer was more than ready to get rid of the ISA at this point, so the ICSC absorbed it and gained its readership and prestige. Officially, the club's name was never changed from the International Cosmos Science Club, but the leaders, members and other fans all called it the ISA.Moskowitz, Sam. The Immortal Storm. 1954. Hyperion Press, 1974, pp. 48-50.
Wollheim, Michel and Sykora now intensified their attacks on the SFL and were able to essentially destroy it. The ISA was dissolved in 1937 by Wollheim after Sykora resigned as its head. In the same year, the Queens Science Fiction League briefly renamed itself to the Greater New York Science Fiction League when Wollheim and his friends joined it, but it too split apart almost immediately. This time Wollheim and Sykora were on opposing sides, and the QSFL re-formed into a new Queens Science Fiction League headed by Sykora, James V. Taurasi, and their new ally Sam Moskowitz. Wollheim regrouped with Michel and a few others to found the Futurians.
==Resources==
*Fancyclopedia article
*Wikipedia article
*reminiscences from Frederik Pohl's blog
*vintage wank entry on the Futurians getting banned from the first Worldcon (archived) at Fandom Wank (2007)
==References==
Category:Science Fiction Fan Clubs
Category:1938 Fan Clubs
Category:1930s Fan Clubs
Category:1940s Fan Clubs