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Finvenkismo


Finvenkismo is an ideological current within the Esperanto movement dating back to L. L. Zamenhof, the initiator of Esperanto. The name is derived from the concept of a fina venko ("final victory") denoting the moment when Esperanto will be used as the predominant second language throughout the world. A finvenkist is thus someone who hopes for and/or works towards this "final victory" of Esperanto. According to some finvenkists, this "final victory" of Esperanto may help eradicate war, chauvinism and cultural oppression.

Recently, some Esperantists have campaigned for the expression fina venko to be replaced with fina sukceso ("final success") because the former reminds some people of war due to its similarity to the German word "Endsieg".

As Zamenhof created Esperanto with the goal of eventual use by everyone as a second language for international communication, finvenkismo has been around for as long as Esperanto itself. In the early days of the Esperanto movement, essentially all Esperantists were also finvenkists. However, as the Esperanto community grew, so did the diversity of ideologies among Esperantists, some of whom began to challenge the merits of finvenkismo. Thus, one could be an Esperantist without being a finvenkist at all.

During the 1910 World Esperanto Congress, Zamenhof highlighted two ways that fina venko could be achieved: through diligent self-directed study of Esperanto by all people in the world, or by government action permitting or requiring Esperanto literacy to be taught in schools:

The final victory, towards which we strive, can be gotten in two ways: through the effort of private individuals, that is to say via a mass movement, or by government decree. It's easiest to believe that our goal will be achieved via the first way (self-study), because in that case, our current case, world governments will come to us with their blessing, as they are wont to do, only when all the work is already finished.


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