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Esperantisma Ludejo

Content created: 2026-03-02
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The Rauma Manifesto
(Manifesto de Raŭmo)

Procursus:

In the summer of 1980 the annual International Youth Convention (Internacia Junulara Kongreso) was held in Rauma, Finland, with the theme “Esperanto in the 1980s: Goals and Methods.” Like other Esperanto conventions over the decades, much of the discussion was expected to be about ways of spreading the knowledge and use of Esperanto. And like conventions of every kind, people anticipated some kind of anodyne resolution to emerge at the end directed to an outer world that everyone knew was not particularly interested.

A resolution —indeed, a “manifesto”— did in fact emerge, but one that actually shook, if not exactly the outer world, at least the little world of Esperanto speakers. It was revolutionary in seeming to set aside the theme of propagating Esperanto in favor of simply using and enjoying it. It argued that Esperanto, pace Zamenhof, was not going to become a universal second language, but it was a worthwhile cultural object in itself. There would be no “final conquest” and it was not realistic or particularly satisfying to pretend there would be, it was reasoned. In subsequent years the urge to proagandize for Esperanto was ridiculed by the “Raumists” as finvenkismo or “final conquest -ism.”

Proto-Raumism had been part of the Esperanto movement from the beginning. Indeed for a language intended to facilitate day-to-day conversations between Russians and Japanese or between Brazilians and Bulgarians, it was almost embarrassing how much poetry was written and how little of it was accessible to imperfect speakers of the language.

In fact, finvenkismo was not dead. In 1998, a “manifesto” from the Universala Kongreso de Esperanto,meeting in Prague, summarized many of these lines of argument with a scattershot of arguments about the potential utility of Esperanto in education and in promoting democracy. If the need for a lingua franca was being rapidly satisfied by English, Esperanto had other merits that justified propagandizing for it. (link to the Prague Manifesto.)

(One curious offshoot of Raumism, perhaps foreshadowed in item 3 of the Manifesto, was the founding of la Civito, a tiny pseudo-state, complete with a parliament, political parties, embassies, and other accoutrements of statehood other than territory. For details, click here.)

Here is the text of the Manifesto of Rauma, its gentle language belying the force of its impact. As though to make the point that the global language situation has evolved since Zamenhof’s day, the English translation here is essentially that of Google Translate, edited only very slightly.

DKJ, March, 2026

La Manifesto de Raŭmo The Rauma Manifesto
1. Krizo de identeco. La subskribintoj konstatis kontraŭdiron en la sinteno de la esperantistaro, kvazaŭ konflikton inter idea superegoo kaj egoo: nia superegoo igas nin prediki al la aliaj homoj pri kelkaj mitoj —la dua lingvo por ĉiu / la angla lingvo estas nia malamiko / UN devas adopti Esperanton / ktp— kaj laŭdegi la lingvon eĉ neobjektive okaze de intervjuo; samtempe, inter ni, ni ĝuas kaj aplikas Esperanton laŭ tio kio ĝi efektive estas, sendepende de la pracelaj sloganoj. Tio ja estas krizo de identeco, kaj ni sentas la neceson motivi nian esperantistecon per io pli kohera. 1. Identity Crisis. The undersigned have identified a contradiction in the attitude of the Esperanto community, as though there were conflict between an ideological superego and ego. Our superego makes us preach to other people about some myths —the second language for everyone / the English language is our enemy / the UN must adopt Esperanto / etc.— and over-praise the language subjectively during interviews. At the same time, among ourselves, we enjoy and apply Esperanto for what it actually is, regardless of the pretentious slogans. This is indeed a crisis of identity, and we feel the need to motivate our Esperantism with something more coherent.
2. Kritiko de praceloj. Ni kredas ke:
a) la oficialigo de Esperanto estas nek verŝajna nek esenca dum la 80aj jaroj – oni havu alternativajn celojn;
b) la faligo de la angla lingvo estas nek tasko nek zorgo de la esperantistoj: finfine la angla rolas nur kiel help-lingvo, analoge al la franca siatempe (eĉ malpli grave ol iam la franca mem); Zamenhof neniam proponis al la Esperanto-movado kiel celon kontraŭstari la francan, ĉar por Esperanto li antaŭvidis pli valoran alternativan rolon.		 2. Criticism of Earlier Goals. We believe that:
a) the officialization of Esperanto is neither probable nor essential during the 1980s – we should have alternative goals;
b) the elimination of the English language is neither a task nor a concern of Esperanto speakers. After all, English plays only an auxiliary role, analogous to French in its time (even less important than French itself sometimes did); Zamenhof never proposed to the Esperanto movement the goal of opposing French, because he envisioned a more valuable alternative role for Esperanto.
3. Niaj celoj Ni celas disvastigi Esperanton por pli kaj pli, iom post iom realigi ĝiajn pozitivajn valorojn:
  1. propedeŭtiko por lingvoinstruado;
  2. kontaktoj inter ordinaraj homoj;
  3. kontaktoj sendiskriminaciaj;
  4. novtipa internacia kulturo.
 3. Our Goals We aim to spread Esperanto more and more, gradually realizing its positive values, namely:
  1. propaedeutics for language teaching;
  2. contacts among ordinary people;
  3. non-discriminatory contacts;
  4. a new type of international culture.
Lige kun la lasta valoro, ni emfazas ke la serĉado de propra identeco igis nin koncepti esperantistecon kvazaŭ la aparteno al mem elektita diaspora lingva minoritato. La kresko de niaj fortoj kaj la aliĝo de novaj homoj estas nepre kondiĉitaj de la konsciiĝo pri tiuj ĉi valoroj. In connection with the last value, we emphasize that the search for our own identity has led us to conceive of Esperanto as belonging to a self-chosen diasporic linguistic minority. The growth of our strengths and the accession of new people are necessarily conditioned by the awareness of these values.
4. La kongresoj kiel vojo al kresko. Internaciaj kongresoj kaj renkontiĝoj estas esencaj por la asimiliĝo de homoj al nia lingva komunumo: necesas unuflanke kongresi pli ofte inter ni, kaj rezervi la kunsidadon de gvidorganoj al apartaj funkciulaj kunvenoj, laŭ la modelo de la TEJO-seminario en Strasburgo (junio 1980), kaj aliflanke necesas fortigi la uzon de Esperanto kiel laborlingvo en fakaj konferencoj internaciaj, laŭ la modelo de la Freinet-instruistoj. 4. Conventions as a Path to Growth. International conventions and meetings are essential for the assimilation of people into our linguistic community. On the one hand, it is necessary to hold conventions more often among ourselves, and to reserve the meetings of governing bodies for separate executive meetings, according to the model of the TEJO seminar in Strasbourg (June 1980). And on the other hand, it is necessary to strengthen the use of Esperanto as a working language in international specialist conferences, according to the model of the Freinet teachers.
5. [sen titolo] Ni kredas ke la unua jarcento de Esperanto pruvis la taŭgecon de la lingvo por esprimi ĉion; meze de la 80aj jaroj, komence de la dua jarcento, ni devos ekmontri al la mondo ke ni kapablas ankaŭ diri ion – ion kulture originalan kaj internacie valoran. 5. [Untitled] We believe that the first century of Esperanto demonstrated the language’s suitability for expressing everything. In the mid-1980s, at the beginning of the second century, we will have to start showing the world that we are also capable of saying something – something culturally original and internationally valuable.

(Text source: https://www.esperantio.net/manifesto-de-ra%C5%ADmo)



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