Esperanto and Languages of Internationalism in Revolutionary Russia

Hoping to unite all of humankind and revolutionize the world Ludwik Zamenhof launched a new international language called Esperanto from late imperial Russia in 1887. Ordinary men and women in Russia and all over the world soon transformed Esperanto into a global movement.<i> Esperanto and Languages of Internationalism in Revolutionary Russia</i> traces the history and legacy of this effort: from Esperanto's roots in the social turmoil of the pre-revolutionary Pale of Settlement; to its links to socialist internationalism and Comintern bids for world revolution; and finally to the demise of the Soviet Esperanto movement in the increasingly xenophobic Stalinist 1930s. In doing so this book reveals how Esperanto - and global language politics more broadly - shaped revolutionary and early Soviet Russia.<br/> <br/>Based on extensive archival materials Brigid O'Keeffe's book provides the first in-depth exploration of Esperanto at grassroots level and sheds new light on a hitherto overlooked area of Russian history. As such <i>Esperanto and Languages of Internationalism in Revolutionary Russia</i>will be of immense value to both historians of modern Russia and scholars of internationalism transnational networks and sociolinguistics.