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Agenbite of Inwit, issue 5, Summer 1944

Front cover

IN THIS ISSUE: "The Horror Out of Lovecraft" by Donald A. Wollheim

AGENBITE OF INWIT

Published Quarterly, by the grace of Ghod, for the Fantasy Amateur Press Association, by Robert W. Lowndes at 306 West 11th Street, New York 11, New York. Issue Number Five. Summer, 1944.

YOU SPIKE A RUMOR THIS WAY
It seems that some people, for reasons which we cannot fathom, obtained the impression that various Futurians, such as Wollheim, Michel, and myself, were much wroth at Julie Unger. Or at least angry. Well, chums, that was just a rumor; we weren't and we aint. Don is still doing fanzine reviews for FFF; I'm doing a feature for the same sheet, and we all brave the wilds of darkest Brooklyn every now and then to drop in on the guy.

RIGID UPPER LIP DEPARTMENT
Someone said to us recently: "What kind of a campaign are you going to try this year? Chauvenet's flower-tossing in the last issue of Sardonyx was pretty clever." We'll answer that one now: No campaign. Our name appears on the ballot; this issue of Agenbite appears in the mailing. That is campaign enough.

REBUTTAL
Chauvenet dissents from our statement in the last issue to the effect that the only force effectively opposing fascism is democracy. Is the USSR a perfect democracy? he asks. Did the resistance of Poland make her a democracy? Etc.

We fear that brother LRC has put words into our mouth we never said. Firstly, we said nothing about any country in the world being a perfect democracy, for the very good reason that there aint no such animal. Secondly, we are referring to democracy as a force, as an urge to make men fight to the end, rather than as an established form of government in every quarter of the earth where fascism is effectively being fought.

LRC confuses fascism per se, and a particular gang of fascists who were invading other countries. I never said that democracy is the only force resisting the German invaders. I never intimated that one gang of fascist thugs wouldn't stand up and fight when another gang tried to muscle in on them, as Germany effectively did with a number of countries. I did say that the only force effectively fighting fascism was democracy; no reference to any exclusive brand or grade label of fascism.

Whether LRC admits it or not, the Union of Social'st Soviet Republics have a democratic form of government. It is not the same type of ours, and I didn't say it was. Ours is a parliamentary, democratic republic, while they have a federation of monolithic, democratic republic. Human behavior being what it is, neither are as perfect in practice as in the written theory, or constitution.

Democracy as a force exists everywhere, even in the heart of the Third Reich. What effective anti-fascism exists there stems from this force, as it stems anywhere else. Wanna argue further, LRC?

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IN THIS ISSUE: "The Horror Out of Lovecraft" by Donald A. Wollheim AGENBITE OF INWIT Published Quarterly, by the grace of Ghod, for the Fantasy Amateur Press Association, by Robert W. Lowndes at 306 West 11th Street, New York 11, New York. Issue Number Five. Summer, 1944. YOU SPIKE A RUMOR THIS WAY It seems that some people, for reasons which we cannot fathom, obtained the impression that various Futurians, such as Wollheim, Michel, and myself, were much wroth at Julie Unger. Or at least angry. Well, chums, that was just a rumor; we weren't and we aint. Don is still doing fanzine reviews for FFF; I'm doing a feature for the same sheet, and we all brave the wilds of darkest Brooklyn every now and then to drop in on the guy. RIGID UPPER LIP DEPARTMENT Someone said to us recently: "What kind of a campaign are you going to try this year? Chauvenet's flower-tossing in the last issue of Sardonyx was pretty clever." We'll answer that one now: No campaign. Our name appears on the ballot; this issue of Agenbite appears in the mailing. That is campaign enough. REBUTTAL Chauvenet dissents from our statement in the last issue to the effect that the only force effectively opposing fascism is democracy. Is the USSR a perfect democracy? he asks. Did the resistance of Poland make her a democracy? Etc. We fear that brother LRC has put words into our mouth we never said. Firstly, we said nothing about any country in the world being a perfect democracy, for the very good reason that there aint no such animal. Secondly, we are referring to democracy as a force, as an urge to make men fight to the end, rather than as an established form of government in every quarter of the earth where fascism is effectively being fought. LRC confuses fascism per se, and a particular gang of fascists who were invading other countries. I never said that democracy is the only force resisting the German invaders. I never intimated that one gang of fascist thugs wouldn't stand up and fight when another gang tried to muscle in on them, as Germany effectively did with a number of countries. I did say that the only force effectively fighting fascism was democracy; no reference to any exclusive brand or grade label of fascism. Whether LRC admits it or not, the Union of Social'st Soviet Republics have a democratic form of government. It is not the same type of ours, and I didn't say it was. Ours is a parliamentary, democratic republic, while they have a federation of monolithic, democratic republic. Human behavior being what it is, neither are as perfect in practice as in the written theory, or constitution. Democracy as a force exists everywhere, even in the heart of the Third Reich. What effective anti-fascism exists there stems from this force, as it stems anywhere else. Wanna argue further, LRC?