A review of Esperanto Kaj Socialismo [Esperanto and Socialism] by Detlev Blanke

 

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Esperanto kaj Socialismo? pri la movado sur la "alia flanko"(1), is a short piece of historical information about the Esperanto movement in the Eastern Bloc during the Cold War period. The author Detlev Blanke grew up in East Germany and was an active promoter of Esperanto at the time so the work is largely autobiographical. I won't pretend this isn't a text written for a small niche, but if you're interested in Esperanto enough to read works written in the language there is some value and interest to be found in these pages even if you had no interest in socialism or Eastern Europe.

I of course, am interested in both subjects, so I had a lot to digest. I would say an sperta komencanto, or a beginner with some experience should find the text readable with maybe a few pauses to consult a dictionary. A passage from the introduction struck me as interesting, most of the text was taken from a lecture and expanded with more detail. The subject of the lecture was about ideology and its relationship to Esperanto, and focused on what is commonly referred to as the "socialismaj landoj" socialist countries. Meaning of course nations controlled by Communist parties such as the Soviet Union and the People's Republic of Poland. But the extent to which these nations were socialist has been contested. Detlev Blanke has since come to the conclusion that these nations including the one he grew up didn't live up to those titles. He thinks that a more accurate description would be "soclandoj" a word I have a hard time translating into English. I suppose Socialette countries would be the most accurate way to do it. What he's done is reduced socialism to its root or germ, these nations didn't build a socialist society but Blanke believes the intention and aspiration to do so was genuine and had things developed differently they might have succeeded. 

Its a bit like how a novelette isn't just a short story, but a short story that has the potential to become a full novel. For example Stephen King's Cycle of the Werewolf, it has a full story structure and could be expanded into a longer work, and was though for film with the novelette being the foundation of the script for Silver Bullet. 

Esperanto and Socialism's main thrust is a history of the development of the officially approved Esperanto movement in East Germany and its connections with the wider "socialist" or more accurately pro-Soviet Union nations and their approved Esperanto movements. The text is acronym heavy and many names are called up but the layout limits the potential confusion. While the details of the benefits of working with the government will make some Esperantists envious, multiple school courses, subsidised travel, funding for diverse publications, conferences attended by important people etc. Blanke makes clear that these came at costs. The Esperantists of Eastern Europe had to conform to the limits of accepted behaviour and discussion. The Soviet Union was a major obstacle in this regard. Stalin's brutal repressions targeted the Soviet Esperantist movement, and while many of them were posthumously "rehabilitated" it was still a sore subject to give publicity to criticism of Stalin's rule in Brezhnev's Soviet Union. Another issue was language imperialism. This is a subject familiar to most Esperantists, and it wasn't much different on the other side of the Berlin Wall. The main difference was instead of having to contend with the popularity of English or French they had to deal with the pre-eminence of Russian. In addition to competing with Russian for space in international communications criticism of linguistic domination of Russian was also a contentious topic.

The limits on what could be discussed and obstinacy on behalf of the bureaucracy that controlled East Germany were issues that couldn't be tackled without direct opposition to the government, which given that these were all dictatorial societies with extensive police powers wasn't advisable. Still, the Esperantists of Eastern Europe were able to rebuild movements shattered by the Nazis and Stalin, and later Nicolae Ceaușescu who cracked down on Esperanto in the 1980s, and were able to make some space for international discussion, culture and debate and promotion of peace in international affairs.

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1: Esperanto and Socialism? information on the movement on the "other side" is how I translate the title into English