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Science Fiction Collector, v. 4, issue 3, whole no. 21, August 1938
Page 10
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Page Ten --- S - F Collector --- _____________________________________ icisms cannot hide the inherent truth in both "Mutation or Death" and the Resolution. I agree that it probably would have been accepted had it been presented alone.) You ask what it would have meant had the Resolution been passed: in cold, unfeeling facts, it would have meant nothing. . . .nothing more than the mere fact that a group of young fellows, known as science-fiction fans, fellows who had never been assumed by the outside world to have much of any grip upon reality, had, for a moment, come face to face with reality, and had taken a sane attitude. The possibilities of a successful transference of power to a Communist Party in this country would not have been enhanced -- even if the entire convention had immediately joined the Communist Party and in solemn ceremonies placed pictures of Marx, Lenin, Stalin, Engels, and Browder around the convention hall. If the speech and the Resolution had attained our highest hopes, it would have set the majority of fellows at the hall to thinking where they stand in the world of realities. It did not attain our highest hopes, but the very fact that you, Mr. Speer, have written this article I am answering shows that it was successful. Insofar as you support the ideology in which you believe, you are a "Michelist." A Michelist is merely a stf fan whose sun does not rise and set merely in science-fiction itself. If Wollheim said that Michelism expresses the hope for a Soviet America, then he is mistaken as to the aims of Michelism. He is referring to his, Michel's, Pohl's and my variety of Michelism. Rather than comment as great length upon your analysis of Communism, which is quite a common attitude among those of the misinformed who are more alert than the mere ignorant, I shall refer to one statement alone: "I have not gone to the trouble of looking up the Communist
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Page Ten --- S - F Collector --- _____________________________________ icisms cannot hide the inherent truth in both "Mutation or Death" and the Resolution. I agree that it probably would have been accepted had it been presented alone.) You ask what it would have meant had the Resolution been passed: in cold, unfeeling facts, it would have meant nothing. . . .nothing more than the mere fact that a group of young fellows, known as science-fiction fans, fellows who had never been assumed by the outside world to have much of any grip upon reality, had, for a moment, come face to face with reality, and had taken a sane attitude. The possibilities of a successful transference of power to a Communist Party in this country would not have been enhanced -- even if the entire convention had immediately joined the Communist Party and in solemn ceremonies placed pictures of Marx, Lenin, Stalin, Engels, and Browder around the convention hall. If the speech and the Resolution had attained our highest hopes, it would have set the majority of fellows at the hall to thinking where they stand in the world of realities. It did not attain our highest hopes, but the very fact that you, Mr. Speer, have written this article I am answering shows that it was successful. Insofar as you support the ideology in which you believe, you are a "Michelist." A Michelist is merely a stf fan whose sun does not rise and set merely in science-fiction itself. If Wollheim said that Michelism expresses the hope for a Soviet America, then he is mistaken as to the aims of Michelism. He is referring to his, Michel's, Pohl's and my variety of Michelism. Rather than comment as great length upon your analysis of Communism, which is quite a common attitude among those of the misinformed who are more alert than the mere ignorant, I shall refer to one statement alone: "I have not gone to the trouble of looking up the Communist
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