Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Finding a Place for Esperanto in the Soviet Union

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Dangerous Language — Esperanto under Hitler and Stalin

  • 416 Accesses

Abstract

We have seen how the Esperanto movement suffered under the attacks of conservative and fascist regimes. In this chapter we will turn to a second variety of persecution, coming from a regime that considered itself the vanguard of worldwide socialism. From the beginning, the Russian Esperantists were a numerous—and extremely progressive—element among the enthusiasts for the International Language. However, exploring the details and causes of the suppression of Esperanto in the Soviet Union is incomparably more difficult than analyzing the persecutions under Hitler because for many years we had no access to archival material generated by the authorities responsible for the suppression. Until 1988, the topic went unmentioned in the Soviet Union, and so researchers had to be content with the limited documentation available to them—documentation so limited that it was difficult indeed to gain a clear understanding of Esperanto's fortunes.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 89.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 119.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 119.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Notes

  1. 1.

    Stites (1989), p. 135.

  2. 2.

    Esperantista Laboristo 1 (1920), 2 (March): 4. The name of the owner was Lopatin.

  3. 3.

    Esperanto 16 (1920): 32. According to this source, information on the subject appeared in Izvestiia on 16–17 January 1919.

  4. 4.

    The poster was reproduced in Esperanto 63 (1970): 111.

  5. 5.

    For a living description of how in 1920 a young Red Army member was recruited for Esperanto, see S.N. Podkaminer, ‘Oktobra Revolucio kaj rusia esperantista movado’, Der Esperantist 14 (1978), 3 (89): 4.

  6. 6.

    Pseudonym of A.A. Malinovsky. Published in Esperanto was: A. Bogdanov, Ruĝa stelo. Fantazia romano, trans. N. Nekrasov & S. Rublev, Leipzig: Sennacieca Asocio Tutmonda, 1929.

  7. 7.

    P.M. Kerzhentsev, ‘Mezhdunarodnaia revoliutsiia i proletarskaia kul’tura’, Proletarskaia kul’tura, 1919, no. 6; German translation in Richard Lorenz (ed.), Proletarische Kulturrevolution in Sowjetrussland (1917–1921). Dokumente des ‘Proletkult’, Munich: Deutscher Taschenbuch Verlag, 1969, pp. 72–7 (esp. p. 76).

  8. 8.

    A. Bogdanov, O proletarskoi kul’ture, Leningrad & Moscow: Kniga, 1924, p. 329. Earlier he had a fairly favorable opinion of Esperanto: see his preface to an article, ‘De la filozofio al la organiza scienco’, specially written for Sennacieca Revuo. Literatur-scienca aldono 1/3 (1923/24): 83–4. On the context, see Zenovia A. Sochor, Revolution and Culture: The Bogdanov-Lenin Controversy, Ithaca & London: Cornell University Press, 1988, p. 147; Smith (1998), pp. 77–8.

  9. 9.

    Esperantista Movado, 1920, no. 2 (9): 11.

  10. 10.

    EdE, p. 590.

  11. 11.

    Edmond Privat, ‘Venkoj de Esperanto’, Esperanto 16 (1920): 91; E. Adam, ‘Le Bolchevisme et l’Espéranto. La langue de Zamenhof officiellement adoptée par le Gouvernement des Soviets’, Le Travailleur Espérantiste, 3rd series, 1 (1920), 3 (Apr.): 1.

  12. 12.

    Letter to E. Adam, 20 April 1920, in Esperantista Laboristo 1 (1920), 4 (May): 2.

  13. 13.

    The Second Congress of the Socialist Workers’ Party of Yugoslavia, referring specifically to the ‘decision’ taken by Soviet Russia, accepted a highly supportive resolution in June 1920: Ĝivoje (1965), chap. 4. The founding congress of the French Communist Party, in Paris in May 1920, accepted an expression of support for more teaching of Esperanto, ‘a remarkable aid for achieving concord among the peoples and preventing war’: Esperantista Laboristo 2 (1921), 6 (17): 10.

  14. 14.

    Lunacharsky nevertheless declared that the Soviet government allowed the elective learning of Esperanto on an equal basis with the French, German and English languages—according to the testimony of M.S. Valentinov, member of the SEU Central Committee, in Sennacieca Revuo 3 (1921/22), 5 (24): 9.

  15. 15.

    H.K., ‘Kial Esperanto en Rusio malvenkas’, Sennacieca Revuo 3 (1921/22), 10: 7. The founders of ESKI were Mikhail Okhitovich (later to become a well-known figure in urban planning) and Drezen, subsequently remembered, against his will, for his role. Apparently their idea was to concentrate in ESKI the entire Esperanto movement in Soviet Russia: Esperantista Laboristo 2 (1921), 4/5 (15/16): 8; see also E. Drezen, ‘En batalo por SEU’, in Drezen (1992), pp. 151–62, esp. pp. 158–9; EdE, p. 123; Solzbacher (1957), pp. 43–4; Fayet (2008), pp. 10, 13.

  16. 16.

    Esperantista Movado, 1920, no. 2 (9): 10, 15. See also Toño del Barrio, ‘Anarĥiisto proponis Esperanton al la Komunista Internacio’, Sennaciulo 80 (2009), 5/6: 20–2.

  17. 17.

    The Executive Committee announced the creation of the commission on 12 January 1921: Fayet (2008), p. 11.

  18. 18.

    Esperantista Laboristo 2 (1921), 7/8 (18/19): 12–13; Sennacieca Revuo 3 (1921/22), 1 (20): 12; Jörg Mager ‘Die Esperantobewegung in Russland’, Der Arbeiter-Esperantist 7 (1921), 10: 49. The draft resolution was initiated by the Swiss Hans Itschner, at the time a member of the Comintern Executive Committee. Among the signers were the Frenchman Boris Souvarine, Jules Humbert-Droz of Switzerland, and Willi Münzenberg of Germany.

  19. 19.

    Protokoll des III. Kongresses der Kommunistischen Internationale. Moskau, 22. Juni bis 12. Juli 1921, Hamburg: Verlag der Kommunistischen Internationale, 1921 (reprinted Erlangen: Karl-Liebknecht-Verlag, 1973), p. 1057.

  20. 20.

    Pogány in 1919 was People’s Commissar of the Hungarian Republic of Councils. He was a victim of the Great Purge.

  21. 21.

    The commission declared that first the communist parties should take a position on the question of an auxiliary language: Fayet (2008), p. 12.

  22. 22.

    Among others, in L’Humanité, 28 March 1922; according to Sennacieca Revuo 4 (1922/23), 7/8 (37/38): 23.

  23. 23.

    E.L., ‘Stranga informo’, Sennacieca Revuo 3 (1921/22), 10: 8.

  24. 24.

    ‘Letero de Sovjetlanda Unuiĝo Esperantista al E. Lanty’, 24 June 1922, in Sennacieca Revuo 3 (1921/22), 11/12 (30/31): 18.

  25. 25.

    E.L., ‘Finita la komedio…’, Sennacieca Revuo 4 (1922/23), 1 (32): 9–10; Lanti (1982), pp. 14–15.

  26. 26.

    Sennacieca Revuo 4 (1922/23), 11/12: 14. In 1924 there was hope, for a time, that the Comintern would interest itself in the world language question. Its secretary Béla Kun requested a report on the workers’ Esperanto movement. Commissioned by the Communist Fraction of SAT, Lanti wrote this report in French and sent it to Moscow: E.L., ‘Publika letero al kompartiaj SAT-anoj’, Sennaciulo 8 (1931/32): 138. It seems that the Comintern also inquired into the situation of the Esperanto movement in various countries through their communist parties: letter of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia to R. Burda, 22 March 1926, in Sennaciulo 2 (1925/26), 29 (81): 7. Nothing is known of the result. (The report for the Comintern later appeared as a brochure: E. Lanty, La langue internationale. Ce que tout militant ouvrier doit connaître de la question, Paris: Fédération ouvrière espérantiste, 1925.)

  27. 27.

    Fayet (2008), p. 14.

  28. 28.

    Compare the discussion between Lanti and a Russian Communist: Lanti (1982), pp. 48–56.

  29. 29.

    N. Futerfas, ‘Esperanto en Rusio’, La Nova Epoko, 1922, no. 1 (June): col. 22.

  30. 30.

    In Russian: Soiuz Ėsperantistov Sovetskikh Stran. From 1927 the name was: Sovetrespublikara Esperantista Unio (Soiuz Ėsperantistov Sovetskikh Respublik: Esperantist Union of the Soviet Republics). Among the founders was the Hungarian army officer Tivadar Schwartz, father of the financier George Soros.

  31. 31.

    E. Drezen, ‘Al la sovetlanda esperantistaro’, Esperanta Informilo (Monthly journal of the Petrograd Esperantist Society), 1921, 2/6 (June/Oct.): 6. A report from a Chinese student in Moscow at the time describes arrests and the temporary closing of Esperanto groups because ‘many long-time Esperantists’ resisted the effort ‘to unite Esperantism and communism’ and expressed their opposition to Bolshevism even in letters abroad: Bao Pu, ‘La movado de Esperanto en Rusujo’, La Verda Lumo 3 (1923/24): 4–6 (quotations p. 5). In addition, see A. Sidorov, ‘Amiko de Zamenhof. Devjatnin—esperantisto el Vilno’, Litova Stelo 18 (2008), 3: 19–21.

  32. 32.

    The two collections of principles appeared in Esperanta Informilo, 1921, 2/6 (June/Oct.): 3–6.

  33. 33.

    Letter from Roman Sakowicz to Hans Jakob, 2 July 1957 (in the UEA archive).

  34. 34.

    R. Nikolskij, ‘Kontraŭ kalumnioj pri kamarado Drezen’, Internaciisto 1 (1930/31): 212–13. As of 1924, Drezen worked primarily in scientific fields, for example on organizational rationalization and linguistics. From 1926 to 1930 he was director of the Institute of Communication. He was professor in various technical colleges and also a board member of the All-Union Society for Cultural Relations with Foreign Countries (VOKS). The most detailed study of Drezen to date is that of Kuznecov (1991).

  35. 35.

    Formed out of l’anti (the against-person). Adam called himself Lanty as of 1921, Lanti as of 1928.

  36. 36.

    Lanti (1940), p. 179; Borsboom (1976), pp. 11–12, 14. The most sustained contact was with the French writer and philosopher Han Ryner, whose work La veraj interparoladoj de Sokrato (Beauville: SAT-Broŝurservo, 1999) Lanti himself translated into Esperanto.

  37. 37.

    ‘Déclaration’, Le Travailleur Espérantiste, 2nd series, 1 (1919), 1 (Aug.): 1.

  38. 38.

    Aseto, ‘Diskutejo. Ĉu internacia aŭ sennacieca organizaĵo?’, Esperantista Laboristo 1 (1920), 3 (Apr.): 2.

  39. 39.

    Sennaciulo (=Lanti), ‘Liberiga Stelo al la Verdruĝuloj’, Esperantista Laboristo 1 (1920), 10 (Nov.): 2.

  40. 40.

    E. Lanti, For la neŭtralismon!, new edn., Paris: Eldona Fako Kooperativa de SAT, 2007, p. 14.

  41. 41.

    Lanti, For la neŭtralismon!, pp. 12–13.

  42. 42.

    Letter of greeting from Henri Barbusse to the founding congress of SAT in Prague; see Esperantista Laboristo 2 (1921), 7/8 (18/19): 1. Earlier Barbusse had called Esperanto ‘the ABC of the International’: ‘Al la internaciistoj’, Esperantista Laboristo 2 (1921), 2 (13): 3. Barbusse’s sympathy for Esperanto became known principally through his foreword to the textbook Cours rationnel et complet d’Esperanto (Paris: Fédération espérantiste révolutionnaire, 1921).

  43. 43.

    See chap. 7, pp. 237 and following. Publishing an article by Rosa Luxemburg from Die russische Revolution (1918) on ‘Imperialism, nationalism and socialism’ (Sennacieca Revuo, n.s., 1 [1933/34]: 1–3), Lanti asserted full agreement between her recommendation against the battle for national liberation and his ‘sennaciismo’. It is well known that Rosa Luxemburg encountered strong opposition from Lenin to her radical internationalism.

  44. 44.

    Cf. E. Adam, ‘Mortis nobla internaciisto’ [on Hodler], Esperantista Laboristo 1 (1920), 4 (May): 1–2.

  45. 45.

    Lanti, For la neŭtralismon!, p. 24.

  46. 46.

    See the essentially programmatic article by L. Revo (Lucien Laurat), ‘Mondlingvo kaj klasbatalo’, Sennacieca Revuo 3 (1921/22), 1 (20): 1–2.

  47. 47.

    See ‘Lettre de Henri Barbusse’, Le Travailleur Espérantiste, 2nd series, 1 (1919), 2 (Sept.): 1; ‘Intelektula Internacio’, Esperantista Laboristo 1 (1920), 1 (Feb.): 5. The journal Clarté published an extended discussion of projects for an international language in 1920: Nicole Racine, ‘The Clarté movement in France, 1919–21’, Journal of Contemporary History 2 (1967), 2: 195–208 (esp. p. 203).

  48. 48.

    Because of conflict between the idealistic leftists and the controlling Comintern party members towards the end of 1921, the ‘Clarté’ movement nevertheless lost its original character as an independent intellectual international.

  49. 49.

    ‘La 1-a Internacia Kongreso de la Revolucia Esperantistaro’ (minutes), Sennacieca Revuo 3 (1921/22), 1 (20): 2.

  50. 50.

    ‘La 1-a Internacia Kongreso...’, p. 4.

  51. 51.

    Letter from Romain Rolland to E. Lanty, 9 Sept. 1922, trans. Sennacieca Revuo 4 (1922/23), 1: 15. For Lanti’s reply see ‘Publika letero al Romain Rolland’, Sennacieca Revuo 4 (1922/23), 2: 13–14; reprinted in Lanti (1931), pp. 52–6.

  52. 52.

    See the discussion on Article 2 in Kongresa dokumentaro. IVa Kongreso, Bruxelles, 14. ĝis 18. aŭgusto 1924, Leipzig: Sennacieca Asocio Tutmonda, 1924, pp. 17–21. The new formula was: ‘only a person who approves its Constitution and declares himself fully ready to serve the interests of the Association may be a member of SAT’.

  53. 53.

    As of January 1932 Sennaciulo appeared biweekly, and, as of February 1933, monthly. Sennacieca Revuo continued to be published as a monthly literary and scientific journal (from October 1928 to February 1933 with the title La Nova Epoko).

  54. 54.

    See esp. the series ‘Tago el mia vivo’, in which SAT members from various countries wrote about their personal living situations. It was initiated by the Englishman Howard Stay: Sennaciulo 3 (1926/27), 125/126 (19 Feb. 1927): 5–6.

  55. 55.

    Lanti (1982), pp. 17–19.

  56. 56.

    Central Committee of the Soviet Esperantist Union, Nia pozicio. Deklaracia letero al ĉiuj revoluciaj esperantistaj organizaĵoj, Moscow, March 1923 (four printed sheets); cf. Sennaciulo 7 (1930/31): 79.

  57. 57.

    In 1932, after the break with SAT, the SEU Central Committee declared that its 1923 document Nia pozicio, defining the relations with SAT, ‘from a historical perspective proved entirely accurate and was correct’: Bulteno de Centra Komitato de Sovetrespublikara Esperantista Unio 11 (1932): 14.

  58. 58.

    The letters in question, from SEU to UEA, were printed in Esperanto 19 (1923): 141–2. Commenting on the decision, UEA protested, distinctly un-neutrally, at the ‘Bolshevik violence’, conveying ‘the expression of its warm sympathy to the oppressed Russian fellow-Esperantists’. See Sikosek (2006), p. 174.

  59. 59.

    In this congress Lanti met Ellen Kate Limouzin, who was George Orwell’s aunt. He subsequently lived with her in Paris for several years.

  60. 60.

    ‘IIIa Kongreso de Sennacieca Asocio Tutmonda, Cassel, 11a–15a aŭgusto 1923’ (minutes), Sennacieca Revuo 5 (1923/24), 1 (43): 11.

  61. 61.

    On this conflict see Lins (1987), pp. 35–52.

  62. 62.

    On their relations, see Lins (1996). On Lanti’s visit to the editorial office: Lanti (1982), p. 16.

  63. 63.

    A. Levandovskij, ‘Skizo pri la anarkista movado en Rusio dum la Revolucio (1917–1923)’, Sennacieca Revuo 5 (1923/24), 9 (50): 9–10; 10 (51): 7–8. In this context we should mention that the anarchist Esperantist Qin Baopu, who studied in Moscow, after his return to China publicly cast doubt on the internationalist character of Soviet Russia and, in support of that judgment, explained that, contrary to widespread opinion, the regime was completely opposed to Esperanto: Gotelind Müller, China, Kropotkin und der Anarchismus. Eine Kulturbewegung im China des frühen 20. Jahrhunderts unter dem Einfluss des Westens und japanischer Vorbilder, Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 2001, p. 483. Qin Baopu in 1924 published a Chinese-language book with the Esperanto subtitle Malsukceso de rusa revolucio (Failure of the Russian Revolution): Müller, p. 509.

  64. 64.

    E. Drezen & Lucien Revo, ‘Pri iu “kompletigo”’, Sennaciulo 1 (1924/25), 49: 4.

  65. 65.

    ‘Protokolo de la Va SAT-Kongreso en Wien’, Sennaciulo 1 (1924/25), 49: 4–5; cf. the letter from Lanti to Martin Muribo, 27 January 1925, in Lanti (1940), p. 61. The social democrat Franz Jonas also pointed out that the Russian SAT members were ‘more active than us’: ‘Protokolo […] Wien’, Sennaciulo 1 (1924/25), 51: 3.

  66. 66.

    ‘Raporto pri agado de CK SEU dum 1923–1925 jj.’, Sovetskii ėsperantist, 1925: 98. Because Drezen could allow himself to seek compromise in the relations with SAT only on the basis of complete homogeneity in SEU, he continued to attack the anarchist Esperantists in the Soviet Union, describing them as ‘much more detrimental and even dangerous for our movement than the remaining representatives of “neutral Esperantism”’: E. Drezen, ‘La vojoj de la movado mondlingva en Sovetlando’, Mezhdunarodnyi iazyk, 1926, 15 (41): 2–4 (quotation p. 4).

  67. 67.

    Lanti (1982), p. 15.

  68. 68.

    Lanti (1982), p. 20.

  69. 69.

    Declaration of 27 February 1925: Sovetskii ėsperantist, 1925: 55; trans. in Sennaciulo 1 (1924/25), 26: 7.

  70. 70.

    Declaration of 28 July 1925: Mezhdunarodnyi iazyk, 1925, no. 1 (27), p. 2; trans. in Sennaciulo 2 (1925/26), 1 (53): 8. The declaration gave a particularly supportive assessment of the usefulness of Esperanto for the proletariat. Boguslavsky was expelled from the Party in 1927 and shot to death in 1937.

  71. 71.

    Greetings to the Soviet Esperantists, 12 May 1925, and letter to the Esperanto group in Dolynska: Sovetskii ėsperantist, 1925: 87–9; trans. in Sennaciulo 1 (1924/25), 38: 6.

  72. 72.

    In the essay A vse-taki ona vertitsia (And yet it moves), 1922; cited in Sovetskii ėsperantist, 1925: 55, trans. in Sennaciulo 1 (1924/25), 26: 7.

  73. 73.

    Sovetskii ėsperantist, 1925: 136, 137, 139. Regarding Izvestiia it was stated that it had recently published notes on Esperanto; regarding Pravda—that it ‘still continues to relate to Esperanto insufficiently favorably’ (p. 139).

  74. 74.

    E. Drezen, ‘Apliku Esperanton!’, Sennaciulo 1 (1924/25), 17: 6.

  75. 75.

    J.A. Lwunin (Iu. A. L’vunin), ‘Zum Briefwechsel zwischen sowjetischen und deutschen Arbeitern und Arbeiterkorrespondenten 1924–1929’, Beiträge zur Geschichte der Arbeiterbewegung 19 (1977): 1013.

  76. 76.

    A. Tomo (E.F. Spiridovich), ‘“Labkoroj” en Sovet-Unio’, Sennaciulo 1 (1924/25), 24: 4.

  77. 77.

    Drezen, ‘Apliku Esperanton!’, p. 6.

  78. 78.

    ‘Raporto pri agado de CK SEU dum 1923–1925 jj.’, Sovetskii ėsperantist, 1925: 98.

  79. 79.

    ‘Internacia laborista korespondado’ (report by Vladimir Varankin), Protokolo de la VI-a Kongreso de Sennacieca Asocio Tutmonda, Leningrado, 6–10 aŭgusto 1926, supplementary issue of Sennaciulo, November 1926, pp. 17–18. This report indicated that in Smolensk the work was performed by 18 small circles of worker correspondents, of whom 95% wrote directly in Esperanto.

  80. 80.

    Cited in Sennaciulo 2 (1925/26), 30 (82): 5. The circular recommended that members of Esperanto circles should join SEU and SAT and subscribe to Sennaciulo and Sennacieca Revuo.

  81. 81.

    Gr. L’vovich, ‘Smolenskii “narkomindel”’ (The Smolensk people’s commissariat on external affairs), Izvestiia TsIK, 1 June 1926; reprinted in Mezhdunarodnyi iazyk, 1926, 17 (43): 15. See also Sennaciulo 2 (1925/26), 38 (90): 6.

  82. 82.

    Sovetskii ėsperantist, 1925: 33; cited in Sennaciulo 1 (1924/25), 26: 7.

  83. 83.

    P. Kiriushin, ‘Cherez Belorussiiu pri pomoshchi ėsperanto’ (Across Belarus using Esperanto), Mezhdunarodnyi iazyk, 1925, 1 (27): 7–8, on Arthur Whitham.

  84. 84.

    R. Nikolskij, ‘Unu vespero kaj ĝiaj rezultoj’, Mezhdunarodny iazyk, 1925, 2 (28): 9, on the Czech Anna Bouda.

  85. 85.

    W. Bennewitz, ‘Kun la germana delegacio laborista al Sovetlando’, Sennaciulo 1 (1924/25), 52: 1, and several following issues; W. Bennewitz, ‘Ĉu Esperanto estas utila por laboristaro tutmonda?’, Mezhdunarodnyi iazyk, 1925, 5 (31): 1–3 (also in Russian). The delegation, which included Willy Bennewitz, was the first of its kind organized by the Communist Party of Germany. See Was sahen 58 deutsche Arbeiter in Russland?, Berlin: Neuer Deutscher Verlag, 1925.

  86. 86.

    John Nilsson, ‘Impresoj el Sovet-Unio’, Sennaciulo 1 (1924/25), 48: 4.

  87. 87.

    ‘Kelkaj rezultoj de laboristaj ekskursoj al Sovet-Unio’, Sennaciulo 1 (1924/25), 52: 4; Kiriushin (1930), pp. 10–12. See also N.V. Nekrasov, comp. Tra U.S.S.R. per Esperanto. Malgranda helplibreto por alilanda esperantisto, Moscow & Kazan: La Nova Epoko, 1926.

  88. 88.

    Paŭlo Robiĉek, ‘Pri la laboro inter politikaj elmigrintoj’, Sovetskii ėsperantist, 1925: 39. Robicsek, who, like Michalicska, was at the time a member of the SEU Central Committee, was in 1919 deputy people’s commissar for postal services in the Hungarian Republic of Councils.

  89. 89.

    Stefan Michalicska, ‘Kiel mi lernis Esperanton’, Mezhdunarodnyi iazyk, 1926, 7 (33): 3–4 (also in Russian). Michalicska learned Esperanto in prison in Hungary.

  90. 90.

    Borbála Szerémi-Tóth, ‘Perloj el la historio de Esperanto’, Hungara Vivo 3 (1963), 1: 10–12. Szatmári (1878–1964) is not the same person as the Hungarian Esperanto author Sándor Szathmári.

  91. 91.

    Guiheneuf (pseudonym: Yvon or Ivon) worked, among other things, as head administrator of a forest in Khabarovsk. In 1934, having lost his enthusiasm for the Soviet Union he was able to leave the country with his Russian wife and child. Borsboom (1976), pp. 29, 136; J.-L. Panné, ‘M. Yvon’, in Jean Maitron & Claude Pennetier (ed.), Dictionnaire biographique du mouvement ouvrier français, Paris: Éd. Ouvrières, 1993, vol. 43, pp. 403–5; Guiheneuf (2004).

  92. 92.

    His original name was Otto Maschl. He learned Esperanto in 1913. From 1932 to 1939 he taught Marxism and economics at the Higher Workers’ Institute of the French Trade Union Association (CGT). As of 1949 he was Soviet economy editor for the journal Est-et-Ouest. See the biographical summary in J.-L. Panné, ‘Lucien Laurat’, in Maitron & Pennetier, Dictionnaire, 1988, vol. 23, pp. 337–8.

  93. 93.

    E. Drezen, ‘Pri la rezultoj de la V. Kongreso de SAT’, Sennaciulo 2 (1925/26), 1 (53): 1.

  94. 94.

    Sennaciulo 2 (1925/26), 46 (98/99): 4.

  95. 95.

    Protokolo de la VI-a Kongreso de Sennacieca Asocio Tutmonda, Leningrado, 6–10 aŭgusto 1926, special issue of Sennaciulo, November 1926, p. 13.

  96. 96.

    N. Barthelmess, ‘Ĉe la laboruloj. Impresoj pri kongresvojaĝo’, Sennaciulo 3 (1926/27), 104: 5.

  97. 97.

    Protokolo de la VI-a Kongreso, p. 49.

  98. 98.

    L. Revo, ‘Al la proletaj verkistoj esperantistaj!’, Sennaciulo 2 (1925/26), 101: 7.

  99. 99.

    Protokolo de la VI-a Kongreso, pp. 51–2.

  100. 100.

    Protokolo de la VI-a Kongreso, p. 52. Lanti did not attend the congress.

  101. 101.

    Historio de S.A.T. 1921–1952, Paris: Sennacieca Asocio Tutmonda, 1953. p. 40.

  102. 102.

    Mezhdunarodnyi iazyk, 1926, 13 (39): 7.

  103. 103.

    Of these, 3400 were personally registered with the SEU Central Committee and regularly received the journal.

  104. 104.

    ‘Pli da atento kaj seriozeco’, Biulleten’ TsK SĖSR 5 (1926/27): 69–71 (quotation p. 69).

  105. 105.

    ‘Alilanda delegitaro esperantista en Sovetio’, Sennaciulo 4 (1927/28): 113–14. SEU’s guests were four communists, four social democrats, and three non-affiliated persons.

  106. 106.

    ‘Esperanto ĉe la Mondkongreso de l’ Amikoj de Sovetio’, Sennaciulo 4 (1927/28), 116.

  107. 107.

    These impressions were generally favorable: ‘Per propraj okuloj’, Sennaciulo 4 (1927/28): 118. In his report, however, the French communist Georges Salan also openly described the negative aspects of Soviet life: ‘Impresoj pri Sovetio de okulvidinto, orelaŭdinto, fingrotuŝinto’, Sennaciulo 4 (1927/28): 135. The report of the Swedish journalist, Einar Adamson, Sub la ruĝa standardo. Impresoj kaj travivaĵoj en Sovetio, Göteborg: Sveda Esperanto-Oficejo, 1928, was enthusiastic. The most detailed impressions were described by the well-known Japanese playwright, Akita Ujaku: Wakaki Sovēto Roshiya (Young Soviet Russia, Tokyo: Sōbunkaku, 1929). This book received considerable attention from Japanese intellectuals: see also Ozaki Kōji (ed.), Akita Ujaku nikki (Diary of Akita Ujaku), Tokyo: Miraisha, 1965, vol. 2, pp. 36–58. A similar or even greater effect among Chinese intellectuals was later generated by Hu Yuzhi’s book, Mosike yinxiang ji (Impressions of Moscow), Shanghai: Xin shengming shuju, 1931, based on a week’s stay among Soviet Esperantists; see Ŝaŭ Bin, ‘Hujucz kaj Esperanto’, El Popola Ĉinio, 1986, 3: 7, 9.

  108. 108.

    Lev Kopelev, writer, literary critic and translator from German, was condemned in 1945 to ten years in a concentration camp for ‘compassion towards the enemy’. In January 1981, because of his declarations of sympathy with Andrei Sakharov and other dissidents, while visiting the Federal Republic of Germany he was stripped of his citizenship.

  109. 109.

    Kopelev (1980), pp. 98–9. For similar memoirs, see Konstantin Paustovsky, The Story of a Life, trans. Joseph Barnes, New York: Pantheon Books, 1964, p. 170; and L. G. Fiŝbejn, ‘Kamarado Esperanto’, Nuntempa Bulgario, 1966, 4: v. The recollections of a Bulgarian villager about such correspondence make an interesting comparison: Trifon Ĥristovski, Mia vivo, trans. Nikola Aleksiev, Sofia: Sofia Pres, 1981, pp. 117–18.

  110. 110.

    The (unfinished) novel, probably written in the mid-1930s, was published only in 1991. English translation: Platonov (2012), esp. pp. 11–14.

  111. 111.

    See for example the articles of Kiriushin and Nikolsky in Izvestiia Ts.K. SĖSR 5 (1926/27): 15–20, 25–26, 254–6.

  112. 112.

    P. Kirjuŝin, ‘Kion ni atendas de niaj korespondantoj?’, Sennaciulo 3 (1926/27), 109: 6.

  113. 113.

    Mark Starr, ‘Pri edukado en Sovetio’, Sennaciulo 3 (1926/27), 145: 3.

  114. 114.

    ‘“Barbaraĵoj en Sovet-Siberio”’, Sennaciulo 3 (1926/27), 111: 4–5. The original appeared in Münchner Zeitung, 22 Oct. 1926. Members of the Esperanto course in the Tver cavalry school reacted by expressing their indignation at the selective nature of the article but did not deny the facts themselves. They listed steps taken by the Soviet government to counter the negative behaviors described: Sennaciulo 3 (1926/27), 15: 3.

  115. 115.

    I. Avrunin, ‘Danĝero’, Sennaciulo 2 (1925/26), 38 (90): 6; V. Varankin, ‘Pri internacia laborista korespondado’, Sennaciulo 3 (1926/27), 104: 6.

  116. 116.

    ‘Konsiloj al la gazetservantoj’, Sennaciulo 3 (1926/27), 121/122: 9.

  117. 117.

    Sennaciulo 2 (1925/26), 100: 7. The editors described as ‘extremely important’ the desire that ‘the letters not relate to general political analysis of the domestic situation’ within the country in question.

  118. 118.

    V. Kolĉinski, ‘La SAT-aparato servu’, Sennaciulo 3 (1926/27), 119/120: 9. The article provides a translation of a letter to the editors of Komunarka Ukraïny (organ of the Central Department of Women Workers and Villagers in the Communist Party of Ukraine).

  119. 119.

    I. Lisichnik, ‘Zavoevyvaem massy’ (We mobilize the masses), Izvestiia Ts.K. SĖSR 6 (1928), 74–7.

  120. 120.

    ‘696 korrespondentsii iz 23 stran’ (696 items of correspondence from 23 countries), Izvestiia Ts.K. SĖSR 6 (1928): pp. 145–6.

  121. 121.

    M. Krjukov, ‘Esperanta movado en Irkutsk’, Sennaciulo 6 (1929/30): 106–7.

  122. 122.

    ‘Rezolucio pri internacia korespondado’ (by the Fourth SEU Congress), Bulteno de CK SEU 6 (1927/28): 101–2.

  123. 123.

    N. Incertov, ‘Al novaj venkoj’, Bulteno de CK SEU 6 (1927/28): 74–5.

  124. 124.

    V. Sokolov & V. Zyrianov, ‘God raboty Kurganskogo “Narkomindela” ’ (A year of work by Kurgana Narkomindel [People’s Commissariat for Foreign Affairs]), Izvestiia Ts.K. SĖSR 6 (1928): 17–19.

  125. 125.

    P. Lisicin, ‘Batalo sur la lingva kampo’, Sennaciulo 5 (1928/29): 400–1.

  126. 126.

    P. Kiriushin, ‘Ot “printsipial’nogo nesoglasiia”’—k polnoi pobede’ (From ‘disagreement in principle’—to full victory), Izvestiia Ts.K. SĖSR 6 (1928): 19–20.

  127. 127.

    Baranov, ‘Vot poprobuite perelomit’ upriamstvo redaktsii’ (Let us try to break down editorial obstinacy), Izvestiia Ts.K. SĖSR 6 (1928): 141–2.

  128. 128.

    Lisicin, ‘Batalo’, pp. 400–1; Kiriushin (1930), p. 24.

  129. 129.

    Izvestiia Ts.K. SĖSR 6 (1928): 175–6; cf. Lwunin, p. 1020.

  130. 130.

    EdE, p. 591.

  131. 131.

    G. Demidjuk, ‘Jes, de malsupre kaj per praktikado’, Sennaciulo 5 (1928/29): 245. See also G. Dem., ‘Pod natiskom molodniaka’ (Under attack by our children), Izvestiia Ts.K. SĖSR 6 (1928): 165–71; ‘Komsomol i ėsperanto’, Mezhdunarodnyi iazyk 7 (1929): 53–4, 56.

  132. 132.

    Demidjuk, ‘Jes, de malsupre’, p. 245. This is how Kaplan, representative of the Komsomol Central Committee, expressed the matter in a conference of young communist Esperantists in Moscow in February 1929.

  133. 133.

    Bulteno de CK SEU, 1929: 123. The Bulletin also states (p. 116) that editorial staff who at first preferred to organize correspondence in national languages had to acknowledge that they received more useful material from abroad by means of Esperanto.

  134. 134.

    Dneprano, ‘La junkomunistaro de Ukrainio lernos kaj aplikos Esperanton’, Sennaciulo 5 (1928/29): 545; ‘Ėsperanto v otsenke Komsomola Ukrainy’ (Esperanto as assessed by the Ukraine Komsomol), Mezhdunarodnyi iazyk 7 (1929): 278–80. See also V. Kolchinsky, ‘Ėsperanto v internatsional’noi rabote Komsomola Ukrainy’ (Esperanto in the international work of the Komsomol of Ukraine, Mezhdunarodnyi iazyk 8 (1930): 39–43.

  135. 135.

    Iu. Larin, ‘Boevye voprosy narodnogo obrazovaniia’ (Battle tasks for popular education), Revoliutsiia i kul’tura 3 (1929), 14 (July): 10–16, quoted from pp. 14–15; cf. Mezhdunarodnyi iazyk 7 (1929): 283, and Sennaciulo 6 (1929/30): 10–11. Larin protested in Pravda, 20 May 1926, against anti-Jewish discrimination. In 1929 he published a book on Jews and anti-Semitism in the USSR. His niece Anna married Nikolai Bukharin. See also Zvi Y. Gitelman, Jewish Nationality and Soviet Politics: The Jewish Sections of the CPSU, 1917–1930, Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1972, p. 436.

  136. 136.

    E.J. Dillon, Russia Today and Yesterday, London & Toronto: Dent, 1929, pp. 185–6.

  137. 137.

    ‘Ni bezonas disciplinon, devokonscion kaj memkritikon’, Bulteno de CK SEU 6 (1927/28): 65–6.

  138. 138.

    Letter to Raymond Laval, 2 December 1935, in Lanti (1940), p. 116.

  139. 139.

    R. Skribemulo (Roman Nikol’skii), ‘Neobdumannye pis’ma’ (Thoughtless letters), Izvestiia Ts.K. SĖSS 5 (1926/27): 22–5.

  140. 140.

    Kir-in, ‘Vsegda pod obstrelom’ (Always under fire), Izvestiia Ts.K. SĖSS 5 (1926/27): 27–8.

  141. 141.

    R. Nikol’skii, ‘Zhertvy nashei neostorozhnosti’ (Victims of heedlessness), Izvestiia Ts.K. SĖSR 5 (1926/27): 102–3. The article warns SEU members to be on their guard in corresponding with Esperantists in these countries.

  142. 142.

    G. Demidjuk, ‘Ankaŭ letero el Sovetio’, Sennaciulo 3 (1926/27), 133/134: 6.

  143. 143.

    Letter from Andrei Sidorov, December 1927, in Sennaciulo 4 (1927/28): 129.

  144. 144.

    R. Nikol’skii, ‘Vezdesushchie “agenty Kominterna” ’ (Ever-present ‘agents of the Komintern’), Izvestiia Ts.K. SĖSR 6 (1928): 152–4. Quoting from the letter, Nikolsky contrasted Weber, whose ‘naïve worker’s head’ he called ‘foggy’, with the judgment of a foreign Esperantist visiting the Soviet Union; according to the latter, ‘the very air in the country of the Soviets is filled with freedom and with the joy that comes from creative work; in a smoky district of a Soviet city it is easier to breathe than in any seaside resort in any capitalist country’. Nikolsky named the assertion of the existence of a state Esperanto office ‘a senseless offence to all Soviet Esperantists’.

  145. 145.

    Letter to the secretariat of the SEU Central Committee, 25 July 1928, Sennaciulo 4 (1927/28): 400. The letter was signed by Drezen, Iodko, Nekrasov, Demidiuk, Nikolsky and Varankin. In reaction to the assertion about a state censorship office, it concluded with the following emotional declaration: ‘Esperantists of the Soviet Union, members of SAT and of SEU, write to their class brothers abroad only truth, as dictated to them by their class honor, their worker’s heart.’

  146. 146.

    ‘Korespondado pri politika vivo de Sovet-unio. Cirkulera letero de CK SEU al ĉiuj SEU-organizaĵoj’, Bulteno de CK SEU 6 (1927/28): 70.

  147. 147.

    ‘Pri kolektiva korespondado. Cirkulera letero de C.K. al ĉiuj SEU-organizaĵoj’, Bulteno de CK SEU 6 (1927/28): 34.

  148. 148.

    R. Nikolskij, ‘Nuntempaj stato kaj taskoj de internacia korespondado. Tezoj por la IV-a kongreso de SEU’, Bulteno de CK SEU 6 (1927/28): 67–8 (quotation p. 67).

  149. 149.

    Statistics on the 135 delegates to the Third SEU Congress in August 1926 show the following professional representation: 36 clerical workers, 7 railway workers, 25 office workers, 12 medical personnel, 4 unskilled workers, 5 workers on the land, 2 nutritionists, 4 postal workers, 3 journalists, 1 scientist, 1 hairdresser, 1 leatherworker, 7 soldiers, 1 carpenter, 7 technicians and 19 others: Mezhdunarodnyi iazyk, 1926, 23 (49): 9.

  150. 150.

    M.I. Ul’ianova, ‘Inostrannye iazyki ili ėsperanto?’ (Foreign languages or Esperanto?), Raboche-krest’ianskii korrespondent, 1928, 21 (15 Nov.); extracts translated in Sennaciulo 5 (1928/29): 134.

  151. 151.

    Cited in Sennaciulo 5 (1928/29): 134 (extracts from an article by V. Fin). The context is explained by Moret (2007), 47–59.

  152. 152.

    Bulteno de CK SEU, 1929: 9, 20, 33.

  153. 153.

    D. Itskhok, ‘Za ili protiv ėsperanto?’ (For or against Esperanto?), Raboche-krest’ianskii korrespondent, 1929, 7/8 (Apr.); extracts translated in Sennaciulo 5 (1928/29): 353; I. Ėl’vin, ‘Protiv khaltury i bezgramotnosti v mezhdunarodnoi sviazi’ (Against errors and illiteracy in international connections), Raboche-krest’ianskii korrespondent, 1929, 15 (Aug.), reprinted in Mezhdunarodnyj iazyk 7 (1929): 253–5. See also Bulteno de CK SEU 9 (1929/30): 98.

  154. 154.

    P. Tilin, ‘Filatelismo, bagatelismo kaj lab. esp. propagando’, Sennaciulo 5 (1928/29): 412.

  155. 155.

    P. Kiriushin, ‘Kto nam pishet iz-za granitsy?’ (Who is writing to us from abroad?), Mezhdunarodnyi iazyk 7 (1929): 82–3.

  156. 156.

    I. Lisichnik, ‘Nashi zarubezhnye korrespondenty’ (Our foreign correspondents), Mezhdunarodnyi iazyk 7 (1929): 84–8; P. Kiriushin, ‘Moi zagranichnye “sobkory”’ (My foreign ‘own correspondents’), Mezhdunarodnyi iazyk 7 (1929): 149–51.

  157. 157.

    Ida Lisiĉnik, ‘Aktuala problemo’, Sennaciulo 5 (1928/29): 154.

  158. 158.

    N.B., ‘Internacia interligo’, Sennaciulo 5 (1928/29): 191.

  159. 159.

    P. Kiriushin, ‘Ocherednye zadachi ėsperkorovskogo dvizheniia’ (The current tasks of the Esperanto-correspondence movement), Mezhdunarodnyi iazyk 7 (1929): 326–7 (quotation p. 326).

  160. 160.

    E. Drezen, ‘Nuntempa soci-politika situacio kaj la taskoj de SEU. Tezoj por IV-a Kongreso de SEU’, Bulteno de CK SEU 6 (1927/28): 50. The congress took place in Moscow at the end of July 1928.

  161. 161.

    ‘Al ĉiuj SEU-organizaĵoj’, Biulleten’ TsK SĖSR 6 (1927/28): 1–2.

  162. 162.

    Bulteno de CK SEU 6 (1927/28): 63.

  163. 163.

    N. Shumarin, ‘Kuda idet Ivanovo-Voznesensk?’ (Whither Ivanovo-Voznesensk?), Izvestiia Ts.K. SĖSR 6 (1928): 276–280. The article noted that a few groups in the province of Ivanovo-Voznesensk ‘are engaging in frivolous international correspondence simply to exchange illustrated postcards and stamps’.

  164. 164.

    At the end of December 1929 Stalin ordered the liquidation of the entire ‘class of kulaks’.

Bibliography

  • Borsboom, E. (1976) Vivo de Lanti, Paris: SAT.

    Google Scholar 

  • Drezen, Ernest (1992) Historiaj studoj, ed. Aleksander Korĵenkov, Ekaterinburg: Sezonoj. Drezen, Ernest (1991) Historio de la mondolingvo. Tri jarcentoj da serĉado, Leipzig: EKRELO, 1931 (reprint Osaka: Pirato, 1967); 4th edn., ed. S. Kuznecov, Moscow: Progreso, 1991.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fayet, Jean-François (2008) ‘Eine internationale Sprache für die Weltrevolution? Die Komintern und die Esperanto-Frage’, Jahrbuch für Historische Kommunismusforschung, pp. 9–23.

    Google Scholar 

  • Guiheneuf, Hervé (2004) Dix ans en URSS (1923–1933). L'itinéraire d'Yvon, Nantes: Ouest éd.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ĝivoje, Marinko (1965) Historio de Esperanto-movado en Jugoslavio, Zagreb: Jugoslavia Fervojisto.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kiriushin, P. (1930) Mezhdunarodnaia rabochaia sviaz‘ na ėsperanto (International workers relations in Esperanto), Moscow: SĖSR.Kopelev, Lev (1980) The Education of a True Believer, New York: Harper & Row.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kuznecov, S.N. (1991) ‘Drezen, lia verko, lia epoko‘, in Drezen (1991) pp. 3–40.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lanti, E. (1931) Vortoj de kamarado E. Lanti, Leipzig: Sennacieca Asocio Tutmonda (reprint Laroque Timbaut, France, 1979).

    Google Scholar 

  • Lanti, E. (1940) Leteroj de E. Lanti, Paris: Sennacieca Asocio Tutmonda (new edition Laroque Timbaut, France, 1987).

    Google Scholar 

  • Lanti, E. (1982) El verkoj de E. Lanti, vol. 2, Laroque Timbaut: Cercle espérantiste de l’Agenais.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lins, Ulrich (1987) ‘Drezen, Lanti kaj La Nova Epoko. La proksimiĝo de la sovetia Esperanto-movado al SAT’, Sennacieca Revuo, no. 115: 35–52.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lins, Ulrich (1996) ‘Disigitaj amikoj. La lasta korespondo inter Demidjuk, Nekrasov kaj Lanti’, La Ondo de Esperanto, no. 3: 16–20; no. 4/5: 14–21.

    Google Scholar 

  • Moret, Sébastien (2007) ‘Ĉu Esperanto aŭ fremdaj lingvoj? Diskutadoj en Sovetlando 1920-1930’, in Detlev Blanke (ed.) Lingvaj kaj historiaj analizoj. Aktoj de la 28-a Esperantologia Konferenco en la 90-a Universala Kongreso de Esperanto, Vilno 2005, Rotterdam: Universala Esperanto-Asocio, pp. 47–59.

    Google Scholar 

  • Platonov, Andrey (2012) Happy Moscow, trans. Robert & Elizabeth Chandler and others, New York: New York Review of Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sikosek, Marcus (2006) Die neutrale Sprache. Eine politische Geschichte des Esperanto-Weltbundes, Bydgoszcz: Skonpress.

    Google Scholar 

  • Smith, Michael G. (1998) Language and Power in the Creation of the USSR, 1917–1953, Berlin & New York: Mouton de Gruyter.

    Google Scholar 

  • [Solzbacher, William] (1957–58) ‘Esperanto in the ups and downs of Moscow linguistics and politics’, American Esperanto Magazine 71: 5–10, 43–46, 74–78; 72: 83–85.

    Google Scholar 

  • Stites, Richard (1989) Revolutionary Dreams: Utopian Vision and Experimental Life in the Russian Revolution, New York & Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Bonn, Germany

    Ulrich Lins

Authors
  1. Ulrich Lins
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Copyright information

© 2016 The Author(s)

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Lins, U. (2016). Finding a Place for Esperanto in the Soviet Union. In: Dangerous Language — Esperanto under Hitler and Stalin. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-54917-4_5

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-54917-4_5

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-137-54916-7

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-137-54917-4

  • eBook Packages: Social SciencesSocial Sciences (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation