Cold War and Revival

The Story of Esperanto

Course 1 · Chapter 7 · Cold War and Revival (1945-1989)

The war left the movement smaller, older and scattered, yet within a few years the congresses were back and new members were joining. The Cold War divided Europe, and Esperanto, a language that crossed borders, had to find a place on both sides of the Iron Curtain. This chapter follows the rebuilding, the attempts to win recognition from international bodies, the growth of the community in the East and in Asia, and a handful of events that gave the language new visibility. Names, dates and figures are from general knowledge and flagged "check".

Rebuilding

The congresses resume

Universal Congresses started again soon after the war, from 1947 (check), in places such as Bern and Vienna. Attendance was lower than in the 1920s, and many old faces were missing (Chapter 6).

A new base

The Universal Esperanto Association moved its headquarters to Rotterdam, in the Netherlands, where it remains (check). Its yearbook, magazine and network of local representatives were rebuilt, and the postwar generation joined youth organisations (check).

Attitudes change

In the Soviet Union the suspicion of the 1930s eased after Stalin's death in 1953, and Esperanto groups were again allowed in parts of the Eastern bloc under supervision (check). In the West, the movement operated freely but remained small.

Recovery or invention? It is easy to describe the postwar years as a revival, as if the old movement came back unchanged. The sources suggest something more mixed: the movement changed in size, age, geography and aims, and many of the postwar members had never known the prewar world. Historians usually talk of a rebuilt movement, not a restored one.

Seeking Recognition: UNESCO

Date (check each)Event
1954The UNESCO General Conference, meeting in Montevideo, adopts a resolution noting the results achieved by Esperanto in international intellectual exchange and the rapprochement of peoples, and allowing cooperation with the Universal Esperanto Association.
1985A later UNESCO resolution, at Sofia, recognises the aims of Esperanto and encourages member states to introduce its study (check).
OtherPetitions and resolutions at the United Nations and the Council of Europe did not lead to official adoption (check).

The 1954 resolution is a favourite of Esperantists, and it is real, but its wording is mild: it records achievements and allows consultation. Neither resolution made Esperanto an official language of any body. A fair statement is that UNESCO gave the movement formal recognition as an organisation worth working with, which is not the same as endorsing the language for adoption (check the texts).

Growth in the East and in Asia

  • Hungary and Eastern Europe. Hungary became a stronghold in the Cold War, with active clubs, publications and state-recognised language examinations (check). Poland, Bulgaria, Yugoslavia and others also hosted congresses (check).
  • China. Esperanto had been used in China since the early 20th century and was promoted by some reformers and writers (check). After 1949 the state supported international broadcasts and a magazine in the language (check), though the Cultural Revolution interrupted activity from the 1960s (check).
  • Japan and Korea. Japan had one of the oldest and largest groups, connected in part with the religion Oomoto, which promoted the language (check). The Japanese Esperanto Institute and congresses continued after the war (check).
  • Why this matters. The notion that Esperanto is "European only", one of the six claims in Chapter 1, is hard to square with the movement's strength in East Asia, though its vocabulary remains largely European in origin (Chapter 9).

Visibility and Community

Pasporta Servo

The "Passport Service", begun in 1974, is a network of Esperanto speakers who offer a bed to travelling Esperantists (check). It is often called one of the oldest hospitality exchange networks, a descendant of the delegate idea of 1908 (Chapter 4, check).

Incubus (1966)

A horror film shot entirely in Esperanto, starring William Shatner, shot in California and released in 1966 (check). It was largely forgotten, then rediscovered, and is a curiosity of cinema and of language history. Reviews of the actors' Esperanto vary, so check what native speakers wrote.

The centenary of 1987

The hundredth anniversary of the Unua Libro was marked by a congress in Warsaw, Zamenhof's city, with participants from many countries (check). It was a landmark of recovery: a congress of thousands in Poland at the end of the Cold War.

Literature and Argument

  • William Auld. A Scottish poet who wrote in English and Esperanto, Auld published La infana raso (The Infant Race) in 1956 (check), a long poem often named among the major works in the language. He was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature several times in the 1990s and after, according to published accounts (check).
  • The debate. Postwar Esperantists argued about "final victory" (the idea that the language would one day be adopted worldwide) and about whether to concentrate on practical uses. The Prague Manifesto of 1996 later set out aims for the movement (check; it is outside this chapter's dates).
  • Younger members. Youth organisations and summer schools gave the language a base outside the older generation (check).
A British comparison Britain after 1945 was rebuilding too, with new international bodies such as the United Nations and the Council of Europe, and a slowly growing role for English as a working language. The British Esperanto Association hosted a world congress in Harrogate in 1954 (check), and Scots such as William Auld took a leading part in the movement's writing. Compare the movement's approach to institutions with the way Gaelic and Scots were being treated in Scottish schools at the time, and ask which depended more on official recognition.
Check the details Congress locations and dates, the years of UNESCO resolutions and the first dates of Pasporta Servo and the film should be checked against the Universal Esperanto Association, UNESCO's records and film histories. Speaker estimates for this period are unreliable. Claims about the Cold War from either side should be read critically, because Eastern and Western sources both had reasons to praise or to dismiss the movement.

Exercises

Exercise 1

Summarise what the UNESCO resolutions of 1954 and 1985 did and did not do, and explain how a supporter and a sceptic might each describe them.

→ Solution
Exercise 2

Use the chapter to answer the claim "Esperanto is European only", giving two pieces of evidence for and two against, and say what is still missing.

→ Solution
Exercise 3

Choose Pasporta Servo, Incubus or the 1987 centenary and write 120 words on what it shows about the movement, with one detail to verify.

→ Solution

Quick Reference

  • Rebuilding: congresses from 1947, UEA in Rotterdam (check)
  • UNESCO: 1954 Montevideo and 1985 Sofia resolutions, recognition without adoption (check)
  • East and Asia: Hungary, Poland, China and Japan as centres (check)
  • Visibility: Pasporta Servo (1974), Incubus (1966), Warsaw centenary (1987) (check)
  • Method: separate recognition from adoption, and rebuilding from restoring