John Roche and Stephen Sachs (1955, also comprehensively analysed in Forster 1982: 74—75) draw a distinction between the bureaucrat and the enthusiast when talking about leadership in social movements. In their view, 'the bureaucrat tends to regard the organization as an end in itself, [whereas] to the enthusiast it [the organisation] will always remain an imperfect vehicle for a greater purpose' (Roche and Sachs 1955: 250). Building on this distinction, it is worth noting that many Paris-based Esperantists who could be classified as enthusiasts actively participated in several Esperanto associations and supported Esperanto as a cause. In contrast, SAT and SAT-Amikaro volunteers and committee members— the bureaucrats, who equated the progress of the cause with the success, growth and stability of a particular organisation—were more likely to limit their activism for Esperanto to one of these associations.
In this sense, for Dominique, JoPo and Alain—in other words, for Esperantists who engaged with Esperanto only through supporting this association, without joining other associations or using the language online[26]—the decline of SAT-Amikaro and apparent shrinkage of the institutionalised left-wing, workers' Esperanto movement also stood for the shrinkage of the language and its community. From their stand- point, Esperanto was losing ground in the left-leaning milieu, with the disinterest of passers-by at the Fete de l'Humanite confirming that Esper- antists were no longer seen as 'credible collective actors that could disrupt existing political arrangements' (Tilly 1999: 263).
Internal dynamics and political convictions within SAT-Amikaro also occasionally hindered the associations attempts to set the movement in motion again. In several annual general meetings, members suggested more regular updates on the associations Facebook page and YouTube channel, to give more visibility to their activities. Yet, it was not easy to find a volunteer to perform this task, as the active members were over- loaded with Esperanto classes and administrative tasks and the elderly ones had limited computing skills. In addition, for political reasons, several anti-capitalist members were not keen on using Facebook due to issues related to the commercialisation of user data. Dominique, for instance, despite his rather advanced computing skills, systematically took a stand against proprietary software and the big techs, refusing to own a smartphone and to use Microsoft and Google products— which, among other things, stopped him from joining the associations' mailing list hosted by Google Groups. This issue caused a dispute on whether political convictions should be relinquished when the asso- ciation's survival was at stake—a dispute that ended only when JoPo volunteered to take charge of SAT-Amikaro's online presence.
Although membership has been, to a certain extent, stabilised since 2016, the perception of failure to secure new members resulted in growing weariness (Hunt and Benford 2004: 445) among SAT-Amikaro volunteers. Hence, such recent stability in terms of membership was not seen positively, as a sign of steadiness, but as an index of stagnation, in which the left-wing, workers' Esperanto movement found itself unable to move forward. Despite their efforts, the associations volunteers failed to see reassuring results coming from their labour. They had to sprint to stand still, but they seemed to be standing still in a quagmire, since the latest generation of active members was not sufficiently engaged and was hardly being replaced by a new generation.
Social movements, political parties and other associations feel a sense of urgency when they attempt to seize the opportunity given by a specific political occasion or when they feel they are about to reach their goals. Likewise, members of SAT-Amikaro also displayed a sense of urgency— but, in this case, based on a fear of imminent failure.
6.4 A Cause Looking for Its Momentum
While specific political opportunities can provide occasions for a social movement to be successful, the lack of such opportunities is one of the factors that makes it difficult for the Esperanto movement to achieve more satisfactory results. Sam Marullo and David Meyer (2004) illustrate the importance of such political opportunities by referring to the anti- war movement in the United States:
Our argument is based on a paradox: peace movements are most likely to mobilize extensively when they are least likely to get what they want. When there is a relatively open moment in American policy, when the conduct and content of American foreign policy is under review, as in the period after the end of the Cold War, for example, peace movements are generally invisible. At times when movements are facing the most difficult challenges, that is, when policy appears to be becoming more aggressive, expensive, and dangerous, mobilization is most likely to be extensive. (2004: 642)
What they call a paradox, however, does not seem to be so. In effect, when war and armed conflicts become more severe, the anti-war move- ment will likely become more relevant, as its cause gains prominence. Far from paradoxical, this represents the very functioning of social movements.
In Esperantos case, however, political opportunities do not seem to be equally available. Unlike armed conflicts or climate change, which require quick mobilisation to address issues conveyed as urgent (Calhoun 1993), causes linked to international communication and linguistic diversity are less prone to require an immediate response. This entails a shortage of occasions seen as critical for successful mobilisation. Furthermore, it explains the Esperanto movement's struggle to find its momentum and to situate its cause at the top of political agendas.
Membership figures in associations, NGOs and political parties usually fluctuate during elections or in moments of important protests (Gelb and Hart 1999: 163). By contrast, during the Cold War—one of the latest occasions for Esperanto to gain political visibility—the language was advertised as a politically more neutral alternative to Russian and English, the two competing hegemonic languages at the time. Yet the end of this conflict undermined this strong argument for Esperanto. More recently, the decision of the United Kingdom to leave the European Union was seen by some Esperantists[27] as a window of opportunity for the Esperanto movement to raise people's and govern- ments' awareness of the links between national languages and power within the EU (Fians 2018). However, negotiations about Brexit have focused on borders, immigration laws and trade agreements, and the issues of language and multilingualism in the post-Brexit European Union were not made into critical ones.
When measured against the first half of the twentieth century—when the ties connecting Esperanto with anti-fascism, communism and anar- chism were the strongest—the twenty-first century appears marked by the perception that Esperanto has been left behind, losing the signif- icance it once had in the left-leaning milieu. Through these nostalgic perspectives—which refer to a past of Esperanto and SAT-Amikaro that was partly lived, partly idealised by activists—Dominique and JoPo seem to be stuck in the past, at once actual and glorified.