Esperanto

Esperanto is an international auxiliary language (IAL) developed by Ludwik Lazar Zamenhof in 1887 through the Unua Libro. It is the most popular IAL, with the estimated amount of speakers varying between 10,000 and 2,000,000 depending on the criteria of a speaker used. It is maintained by the Academy of Esperanto.

Flag of the Esperanto movement.

History

In 1887, Zamenhof published the Unua Libro, a founding book on. He published the Dua Libro the next year to make minor correction to Esperanto (ekzample: kian is replaced with kiam).

An 1891 poem written by Zamenhof called "La Espero" (English: "The Hope") expresses some of the ideals envisioned by the language's creator, who emphasized his hope that by creating an easy to learn language which could be studied for international communication without supplanting anyone's native language, it would create more peace and understanding in the world. Since its writing, the poem has been performed to music among Esperanto speakers and generally been adopted as an anthem of Esperanto. Some of the aims expressed in the song include "On a neutral language basis, understanding one another, the peoples will make in agreement one great family circle" and "our diligent set of colleagues in peaceful labor will never tire until the beautiful dream of humanity for eternal blessing is realized." The song refers to the "peaceful warriors" who gather to labor under the "sacred sign of hope."

Under pressure from Wilhelm Trompeter, Zamenhof created a Reformed Variant Esperanto of 1894; but it was heavily rejected by the Esperanto community, and Zamenhof himself came to hate attempt.

The ideals of Esperanto attracted interest from all over the political spectrum, particularly catching the interest of pacifists. Although idealism pervaded the original conception of Esperanto, many leftists were nonetheless attracted to the various goals of peace, internationalism, and neutrality that it represented, as well as in some cases the practicality of having an alternative means of international communication outside of national languages. For instance, in East Asia, many Esperantists used Esperanto to bridge communication gaps between the Japanese, Korean, and Chinese languages, particularly in the face of the imposition of Japanese imperialism. In Korea, the Korean Artist Proletarian Federation (Esperanto: Korea Artisto Proleta Federacio, abbreviated KAPF) was a socialist literary organization that formed in 1925, and put forth "armed class consciousness" as its program, and had branches in Tokyo, Pyongyang, Suwon, and Kaesong.

Oppression

The Kingdom of Hungary restricted Esperanto in 1920 due to it's local association with the Bolsheviks and to uphold bourgeois nationalism.

Esperanto was oppressed by fascists (Nazi Germany in Europe and Imperial Japan in Asia) during the 1930s, due to reactionary nationalism and it's association with communism, anti-imperialism, and national liberation; The Nazis also oppressed Esperanto due to Antisemitism.

Bourgeois media and historians (prominently liberal Ulrich Lins) claim that the USSR oppressed Esperanto. However, there is not much evidence to support this claim, and the minority of Esperantists that were persecuted were often persecuted for being trotskyists, and class enemies of the Soviet Union.

Socialism and Communism

USSR

Soviet Esperantists in the Red Army fought in the anti-fascist war against Nazi Germany.

China

If Esperanto is taken as a form and enshrined in the way of true internationalism and the way of true revolution, then Esperanto can be learned and should be learned.

— Mao Zedong, Letter, Yan'an Esperanto Association, 1939

Esperanto is supported by the Communist Party of China and the Chinese people. They supported it in the Sino-Japanese War and Chinese Civil War movement. El Popola Ĉinio, a state official Esperanto journal, was established in 1951. China Radio International supported Esperanto starting from 1964.

Verda Majo

During the 1930s, an anti-fascist, feminist Japanese Esperantist originally named Hasegawa Teru, who went by the Esperanto name Verda Majo ("Green May"), left Japan and went to China, and ended up taking part in helping the Chinese resistance against the Japanese Empire.

While in Japan, Majo had become acquainted with Esperantist circles. There was a close symbiosis at the time between a part of the Japanese Esperanto-movement and the movement for proletarian literature. In 1932 she was briefly taken into custody, being suspected of having "leftist sympathies", and was thereupon expelled from college. Thus, she returned to Tokyo, where she started to learn typewriting and fully committed herself to propagating proletarian Esperantist literature, especially amongst women.

Via these activities she came into contact with the editor of the Chinese Esperanto magazine La Mondo (The World) in Shanghai at that time, which was looking among the Japanese Esperantists for someone to write an article about the situation of Japanese women. Majo published an article in the March/April issue 1935 focusing on the Japanese Women’s Movement and the question of labour and the suppression of the women's movement by Japanese fascism.

Eventually, Majo went to China after marrying a Chinese Esperantist. While in China she worked with other Chinese Esperantists, and eventually she became a Japanese language broadcaster with the Central Radio Station, broadcasting programs aimed at dividing the Japanese army. In July 1940, the Anti-war Revolution League of Japanese in China was founded and Majo was elected as one of its leaders. Majo died of an illness on January 10, 1947 at the age of 35. Zhou Enlai once said of Majo that she was "a sincere comrade-in-arms of the Chinese people."

Vietnam

Ho Chi Minh learned Esperanto in 1915 and supported Esperanto during the Vietnamese Liberation War. He suggested to the director of Voice of Vietnam to utilize Esperanto in the Declaration of Independence. He allowed the translation of his written diary Tagkajero en Prizono.

Voice of Vietnam supported Esperanto from september 1945 until december 1946, when French colonialists invaded Vietnam.

Cuba

Fidel Castro supported Esperantists in the 1990 UEA Congress to Havana, Cuba.

The broadcast of Radio Havana Cuba, which is meant to spread information about the Cuban revolution to an international audience, is available in Esperanto, including audio broadcasts as well as written articles on their website. The Esperanto name of it is Radio Havano Kubo. It also has an Esperanto language YouTube channel.

In 2016, a 30-minute documentary called "Across the Florida Straits" (Esperanto: Trans La Florida Markolo) was produced. It follows the first legal visit of U.S. Esperantists to Cuba after 54 years of prohibition, where they meet up at a congress of the Cuban Esperanto Association and share their experiences.

Yugoslavia

Socialist Yugoslavia held the 38th World Esperanto Congress in 1953 at Zagreb.

Josip Broz Tito had mentioned in 1953, that he learned and supported Esperanto while in a prison. He said that Esperanto was an easy language to learn.

Korea

A group of literary artists for socialist revolution formed in 1925, called by the Esperanto name Korea Artista Proleta Federacio (KAPF). Artists from KAPF created literary works containing patriotism and optimism for the future in Korean society, and developed folk dances and folk songs containing national forms. Lim Hwa and Kim Nam-cheon of KAPF insisted on "Bolshevikization of the art movement" and reorganized KAPF for the purpose of "eradicating petty-bourgeois bias", a direction taken by KAPF in 1930. KAPF members began facing arrest by Japanese imperialist authorities for their activities in 1931. In the face of this, some of them continued their activities underground for the following years, while others split ideologically from KAPF. The General Federation of North Korean Literature and Arts (Korean: 북조선문학예술총동맹), which was formed in October 1946, was led by people from KAPF, which had carried out an anti-Japanese literature and art movement. Ahn Mak-i, one of the leading theorists of KAPF, served as the vice-chairman of the North Korean Federation of Literature and Arts. Han Seol-ya, also involved with KAPF, served as the Minister of Education and Culture in the Cabinet and vice-chairman of the Standing Committee of the Supreme People's Assembly.

Further Reading

Language

• L. L. Zamenhof (1905). Fundamento de Esperanto. Hachette.

See also

• Ido