TRIUMVIRS

from Fancyclopedia 2

(Speer) Three who share authority and rule. The Triumvirate of fandom was Moskowitz, Sykora, and Taurasi, drawn together by enmity toward Wollheim. Sykora's feud with the latter dated from the dissolution of the ISA in 1937; Moskowitz' originated in W's charge that SaM's account of the Third Convention was full of errors and typical of the shallow fans who will not think, and of the exchange of barrage that followed; Taurasi had been a neutral prior to the breakup of the GNYSFL.

Not long after this last event, Moskowitz got them together, and after a period of conferring they started New Fandom. Following the policy, newly popular, of refusing to engage in feuding, they built up the QSFL, New Fandom, and the widely-circulated FANTASY NEWS. Their power became such that their opponents referred to them as dictators, and Michel and Speer coined a series of ekenames patterned on those of the Axis leaders; Moskowitz was Der Fuhrer of the Newark Swamps, Taurasi Il Duce of Flushing Flats, Sykora the Mikado of Long Island City -- all this from their places of residence. They successfully staged the NYCon I, but the X Act alienated such former neutrals as Tucker, Ackerman, and Hart. With the support of the large QSFL, however, and usually of the Phillies against the Futurians, they continued to be strong thru the 1940 PhilCo.

About this time, Taurasi became less active, talking of going into the service, and Sykora took over FANTASY NEWS. Sykora was discredited after the ChiCon I by the report circulated therein that he had been arrested, and released with a warning, on an IMM charge [hence the by-name "Psykora"]. Moskowitz had set up shop as an agent, and became less active before he was drafted. That the Triumvirate was still in existence, however, was shown early the next year in the fuss at the QSFL.