Revolutionary Tongues: Esperanto, Marxist Linguistics, and Anti-imperial Struggles in East Asia, 1930s–1940s

Abstract

<p>This article examines how Esperanto coalesced with leftist and anticolonial thinking in East Asia during the 1930s and early 1940s. It aims to complicate understandings of language, including planned languages, as a neutral and apolitical medium and to contribute to a growing body of Anglophone scholarly work on Esperanto by turning to the history of East Asian Esperantists. Examining the linguistic theories by Esperantist and Latinization activist Ye Laishi (Ĵelezo, 1911–1994) and the Esperanto writings of Hong Hyŏng-ui (1911–1968) and An U-saeng (1907–1991), the article argues that Esperanto provided the means for anticolonial activists to facilitate a transnational network of antiwar activism across and beyond East Asian and remain invested in internationalism amidst a time of nationalism and fascism.</p>