The stelo ("star"; plural: steloj) was from 1945 to 1993 a monetary unit of Esperantists, one of whose aims was to achieve a single world currency. Attempts at an earlier currency, the speso, were cut short by the First World War. For a time the Universal League (Esperanto: Universala Ligo), part of the Esperanto movement, issued coupons and coins denominated in steloj, making attempts to link the Stelo to existing currencies on the basis of relative purchasing power in different countries.
For Esperantists concerned with international relationships, the need for a currency with a fixed purchasing power was very important. To commemorate the 25th anniversary of Esperanto in 1912, the Swiss firm Holy Frères made coins for the Universal Esperanto Association — the Speso (plural: Spesoj) — in the denominations spesdeko (10 spesoj), spescento (100 spesoj), spesmilo (1,000 spesoj) and spesdekmilo (10,000 spesoj). The First World War, however, put an end to this initiative.
Founding of the Universal League
On 14 April 1942, the 25th anniversary of the death of L. L. Zamenhof, a group of faithful Esperantists had gathered in secret in a private residence in The Hague to remember him. The Netherlands were then under Nazi occupation and the group had already experienced the tyranny of the police state. Esperantists had been among the groups especially persecuted and even exterminated by the Nazis, and they now wanted jointly to undertake a concrete task to help save mankind from "world catastrophe."
After discussion, the Esperantists agreed to form the Universal League as an organization whose principal purpose would be to implement Zamenhof's original program: to unite humanity in peace through a common language. Employing the motto "One World, One Language, One Currency," the Netherlands-based group promoted the use of the Stelo as a universal currency unit.
With the founding of the Universal League, an express wish of the now-deceased Zamenhof and of Esperantists from many different lands both before and during the Second World War was coming to fruition. The original participants secretly invited other well-known Esperantists to take part in the discussions. A preparatory committee was constituted to develop and fix the ideas further. On 1 April 1945 the committee revealed their basic concept to the world. One of their stated purposes was: "to strive for the creation of a world currency, based on an international monetary unit, the Stelo."
On 16 March 1946 its first international assembly was held in The Hague. The 1294 members at the meeting approved a constitution, one of the stated goals of which was the issuing of Stelo currency with a stable, internationally agreed value. The members elected a committee to work out further details for the use of the Stelo. The contribution for a lifelong membership was at first set as the "cornerstone" value of one Stelo. Soon, however, it was announced that the value of a Stelo would equal the price of a standard loaf of bread in the Netherlands, which at that time cost 0.25 Dutch guilders.
The 1946 assembly re-emphasized the motto "One World, One Language, One Currency." The League had commercial relations with banks in six countries (Belgium, Denmark, Germany, Italy, Sweden and Switzerland), as well as with three Dutch banks. For all these bank accounts the Universal League maintained parallel systematic accounting in the local currency and in Steloj, and appointed agents in 14 other countries. These representatives submitted their financial operations reports on the basis of the Stelo.
Monetary stability
The archives of the Universal League show that the intention was to mint a coin with a fixed value. The League saw this stability as the only way to lift the world from the pressures of economic differentials that tended to result in conflicts among peoples. Exchange rates for the Stelo outside the Netherlands were based on 1946 exchange rates for other currencies quoted by the largest Dutch commercial bank.
Coupons
Coupons issued by the Universal League for 1 Stelo.
At first the Esperantists had to forgo further steps, such as the establishment of their own bank with a worldwide cheque endorsing and payment system and the issuing of coins and banknotes. At that time the various nations had strict rules governing international financial operations that were designed to shield them from outside financial attack.
Even in the early period (1945) the Universal League nevertheless brought out the 1-Stelo Premio-Kupono, which remained valid till 1950. Every new coupon issue brought on the market was intended to be valid for five years. The coupons were used to pay for subscriptions, advertisements, activity participation costs, etc. League members also received the coupons as rewards for introducing new members or as competition prizes. According to a report in La Praktiko the use of Premio-Kupono flourished, and it became habitual for Esperantists to pay with them, for example during Esperanto world conferences.
Later development of the Stelo stagnated. The Universal League founders wanted to show their good will by maintaining a constant value for the Stelo, but their efforts were doomed to failure. The Dutch price of bread gradually increased, but nobody thought to adjust the relationship between the Stelo and the guilder. The ratio remained four Steloj to the guilder, and bank currency conversion tables were used to fix the value of the Stelo in other countries. Moreover, even the Universal League gave up the idea of recording bookkeeping transactions in Stelo monetary units, so nobody gained experience with a coin of constant value. It is no wonder that the Stelo lost its reputation and that its use even by Esperantists became rare.
Minting of coinage
During the 1950s membership in the Universal League grew to 15,000 Esperantists. In 1959, they realized the longstanding dream of minting Esperanto coinage in denominations of one Stelo (bronze), five Steloj (yellow copper) and ten Steloj (cupronickel). Rich from worldwide commodity sales receipts, the Universal League had placed a large order for with the Royal Dutch Mint (Rijksmunt) in Utrecht to strike the coinage. This investment was swiftly recouped, with the result that in 1965 the League was able to issue a fourth denomination, a silver 25 steloj coin, which also sold very well. Cupronickel and gold variants of the 25 steloj denomination were also minted.
But the other dream of the Stelo retaining a constant value was almost forgotten except among the very old Universal League members. The League fell quiet and scarcely did anything, though still publishing the illustrated magazine La Praktiko. The new subtitle was A journal for citizens of the world; previously it had been A journal for instruction and recreation. Publication of the periodical stopped only in 1970, when Andreo Cseh, who had been editor since 1946, had to retire due to weak health. Dr. Cseh remained in a care home until his death in 1979.
Plain, each coin with an individual number engraved
Effigy of Ludwik Lejzer Zamenhof with text "D-RO L.L. ZAMENHOF KREINTO DE ESPERANTO" ("Dr. Zamenhof, creator of Esperanto") and "1859–1917"
Value over star, "UNIVERSALA LIGO", year
10
Lawrence Mee's role
Lawrence Mee was to breathe new life into the Universal League. In 1973 Mee and his wife became co-workers at the head office of the World Esperanto Organization. The following year the Universal League selected a few faithful members to lead a renewal of the League in striving for peace through cooperation with the World Association for World Federation (now known as the World Federalist Movement/Institute for Global Policy) and the World Esperanto Association.
For two years they promoted development of the Stelo as an international currency. After long discussion they concluded that the Stelo should be revalued from a fourth of a guilder to a half-guilder. Further discussions led the Universal League to fix the value of the Stelo. Mee was later to write a significant and comprehensive essay on the development of the Stelo, "De stabiele munteenheid van de esperantisten: de stelo"Archived 23 September 2015 at the Wayback Machine ("The stable monetary unit of the Esperantists: the Stelo'"), which first appeared in the 2000 Yearbook of Europees Genootschap voor Munt- en Penningkunde, a federation of Dutch-language numismatic associations.
Fixed value
Setting a fixed value for the Stelo meant that, as of a certain date, its purchasing power would thereafter remain the same and would not be subject to inflation. On the chosen date, 1 January 1977, the purchasing power of one Stelo was defined as equal to a half guilder; i.e., one guilder was set equal to two Steloj.
Dr. Josef Hartl of Vienna had devised a detailed plan for fixing the value of the Stelo. Around 1977 Dr. Hartl had circulated a pamphlet on the Stelo that appears to have influenced Lawrence Mee. Hartl's article suggested the circulation of a currency with a constant value as an answer to inflationary devaluation. His basic idea was that regardless of its level of development each country could calculate in its national currency an average family's monthly expenditure. One could then arbitrarily assign the value of 1,000 monetary units to this average monthly expenditure. Thus by definition, the loss to a family in any country of, say, 10 units would be absolutely equal to 10 "international monetary units."
By careful calculation, therefore, the conversion rate between the international monetary unit and the national currency could be adjusted as necessary according to the inflation rate in any particular country. By basing transactions among different countries on the international monetary unit, the national currencies would be beyond the attacks of speculators; indeed, speculation in currency values would become useless.
As often occurs, several unconnected events happened to coincide:
In the League a forgotten supply of Stelo coins was rediscovered;
At the same time the publication of a new magazine began;
A Dutch monetary reformer published an article concerning the unsuitability of currency systems in the industrialized lands; and
Dr. Hartl launched his pamphlet.
A new treasurer for the League
Lawrence Mee enthusiastically accepted the position of League treasurer in 1977. Remaining as board members were Christiaan M.N.T. Op 't Roodt and Willem P. Roelofs, who were eager to quickly establish a procedure to keep the Stelo's value constant and to publish the result within the framework of the Esperanto movement. Under the editorship of Op 't Roodt, the Universal League's new periodical Bulteno was guided by the idea that the value of the Stelo would remain constant, unaffected by inflation.
With bank accounts in seven countries including the Netherlands, the Universal League needed to stipulate the value of the Stelo in these countries. For want of scientific data on the effective purchasing power of the various national currencies it was, however, impossible to determine reliable conversion rates between the Stelo and each national currency. While the conversion rate with the guilder was solidly established, agreement on the other rates would not be easy.
Dr. Roelofs especially wanted to give the Stelo a character totally different from Dr. Hartl's idea of international monetary units. He also advocated using the Stelo as propaganda for money reform. Dr. Roelofs believed that the Stelo should serve as the basis for international financial transactions, but only between countries that refused to deal with commercial banks. How the system would function was never detailed on paper, writes Lawrence Mee, "presumably because the ideas of money reformers were already well known." Although he admitted that the original basis of the purchasing-power provision was somewhat arbitrary, Mee wanted the Stelo to serve in the role originally envisioned by the Universal League.
Even after months of discussions, it was not possible to fashion a compromise between the two views, but a majority of the League's governing board supported Roelofs's views. Mee could not accept the decision and resigned from the League. From time to time Roelofs supplied Bulteno with tables of the Stelo's current value but never disclosed his principles or calculation method. Mee himself could not work out the underlying value ratios used, although he assumed that they had been archived.
The unofficial Stelo
For Lawrence Mee the ideas of Dr. Hartl were not dead. He and his wife had long used the Stelo in the bookkeeping for their business Mondkomercista Eldonejo Esperantista (an Esperanto-language trade publisher). After his departure from the Universal League he tried to apply Dr. Roelofs's currency values, but quickly concluded that the data on the purchasing power of the Stelo were erroneous. From the mid-1980s he began to collect statistical data on inflation in various countries, gaining the unexpected support of an economics instructor at Erasmus University in Rotterdam. The instructor had a great interest in Mee's work. An honorary member of the library at Erasmus University, Mee occupied much of his free time in researching statistical data on the 25 countries of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.
Mee worked out the unofficial value of the Stelo in those 25 countries, using as his point of departure 1 January 1977, the day on which the Stelo's fixed purchasing power was defined. He discovered that the Universal League formula was certainly wrong for the Netherlands; he presumed that it was wrong for other countries also, although he did not yet have proof of this.
The progress of Mee's research accelerated in 1981 as he began distributing tables of nine countries' currency relationships, with which he could make rapid and trustworthy calculations. It shortly became apparent, however, that the Italian data were not sufficiently dependable for him to make reliable inferences about that country's currency values.
The basic calculating system was so adapted that could he but obtain regular and reliable data, he could fix the currency relationships among many more countries. Mee believed, however, that even his incomplete data had great utility. The currency relationships permitted him to determine the purchasing power of the Stelo and to express it in the national currency of a certain country. To be able to put the Stelo into service everywhere would require the joint work of a multinational network of collaborators. Yet Lawrence Mee continued.
Matters went still more rapidly after he purchased a computer, which by current norms would be considered primitive. It was already possible in September 1992 to rapidly calculate currency value predictions for different countries. Since then a booklet with the title Informkajero pri la Stelo (Notes about the Stelo) has been published and distributed through enthusiastic collaborators, especially by the Esperantocentrum in Aarhus, Denmark.
At the beginning of his study into the Stelo's purchasing power, Dr. Mee and his associates had already noted that the purchasing power in Great Britain had been determined arbitrarily: on 1 January 1977, for example, according to the large banks' currency agreements one pound was equal to 4.1875 guilder. Because one guilder was then defined as equal to 2 Steloj it followed that one pound would be equal to 8.375 Steloj. This exchange rate would remain until a more reliable method could be devised to directly compare the purchasing power in the two countries with each other. Dr. Mee also applied the same system to other countries.
Lawrence Mee had already reported an arbitrary decision on fixing the basic purchasing power of the Stelo in other countries outside the Netherlands. To fix its accounting basis he applied other arbitrary decisions, each time with the goal of presenting acceptable currency rates. Those decisions formed the system he employed to regularly calculate and publish currency conversion rates.
Utility of the Stelo
Since the Stelo was the currency of Esperantists, a good example of its utility was the publication of a monthly magazine and the payment of rents and salaries. The publisher of a monthly magazine receives subscription money, requires the services of a printer, and must pay for stationery and postage, etc. Under the influence of inflation costs will tend to increase but not all at the same time and not all in proportion to the inflation rate. Eventually the publisher must contemplate an increase to the annual subscription rate. The new annual rate usually has to be announced in September before the next calendar year.
Mee and his associates could show that linking the subscription rate to a stable currency unit facilitated this task, although commercial bank rates still required separate consideration. If a particular publisher in 1977 were satisfied with the exchange-value of 60 Steloj for one year, Mee's studies concerning the Stelo predicted that the exchange value of 60 Steloj would continue to be sufficient in future years. That publisher, therefore, would need only the currency tables for September to have an idea of the required subscription price level in national currencies for the next year.
A second example from the practice of the Esperantists is the rental of a hall to another society. As the Esperanto Association would want to maintain the same purchasing power for its rental revenue (since the Association's expenses would be likely to increase through inflation over time) it could conclude an agreement with the tenant, expressed in Steloj but payable in the national currency according to the then-current monthly conversion rate.
A third example is the determination of the salary for work performed. Whether we reckon using the Stelo system or not, wages are a matter of daily concern. All industrialized countries must contend with inflation, which continuously gnaws away at the family budget, and the only remedy is the continuing increase of salaries. Especially in the industrialized world, wage negotiations can lead to sometimes bitter confrontation between employers and labour unions. In developing countries lacking a strong tradition of labour relations law, these confrontations can result in human rights abuses or even in police or military intervention. After a strike or lockout has concluded it may take a long time to regain an atmosphere of mutual confidence and trust. Esperantist economists believe that the application of the Stelo to labour-management negotiations could prevent these problems.
Dissolution of the Universal League
The Universal League remained in existence, but in the Esperanto world its significance declined. After they had placed his obituary in the periodical Esperanto, many of his colleagues died as well.[clarification needed] Dr. Roelofs had taken over the editing of the Bulteno when Dr. Op 't Roodt could no longer undertake it. The irregular appearance of new issues of the Bulteno made apparent the reduction in active League membership.
In 1993 the governing board of the Universal League ceased publishing the Bulteno and decided to wind up the affairs of the League itself. The remaining capital was divided among several foundations, with most of the funds going to the World Esperanto Association. Among the grants was found a stock of Stelo coins to be sold through the UEA as collector's items. The death of Dr. Op 't Roodt in 1996 and of Dr. Roelofs in 1998 marked the end of a major Esperantist initiative.
Anniversary of René de Saussure (150th birthday), 1868–1943. 31,1 g silver 999/1000.
Esperanto coins and stamps
Belgium — In 1982 an Esperanto postage stamp with a face value of 12 Belgian francs was issued. Several dozen other countries have also issued stamps, especially in 1987 for the 100th anniversary of the publication by L. L. Zamenhof of Unua Libro.
A currency is a standardization of money in any form, in use or circulation as a medium of exchange, for example banknotes and coins. A more general definition is that a currency is a system of money in common use within a specific environment over time, especially for people in a nation state. Under this definition, the British Pound Sterling (£), euros (€), Japanese yen (¥), and U.S. dollars (US$) are examples of (government-issued) fiat currencies. Currencies may act as stores of value and be traded between nations in foreign exchange markets, which determine the relative values of the different currencies. Currencies in this sense are either chosen by users or decreed by governments, and each type has limited boundaries of acceptance; i.e., legal tender laws may require a particular unit of account for payments to government agencies.
Esperanto is the world's most widely spoken constructed international auxiliary language. Created by the Warsaw-based ophthalmologist L. L. Zamenhof in 1887, it is intended to be a universal second language for international communication, or "the international language". Zamenhof first described the language in Dr. Esperanto's International Language, which he published under the pseudonym Doktoro Esperanto. Early adopters of the language liked the name Esperanto and soon used it to describe his language. The word esperanto translates into English as "one who hopes".
Esperantujo or Esperantio is the Esperanto community; the community of speakers of the Esperanto language and their culture, as well as the places and institutions where the language is used. The term is used "as if it were a country."
L. L. Zamenhof developed Esperanto in the 1870s and '80s. Unua Libro, the first print discussion of the language, appeared in 1887. The number of Esperanto speakers have increased gradually since then, without much support from governments and international organizations. Its use has, in some instances, been outlawed or otherwise suppressed.
A gold standard is a monetary system in which the standard economic unit of account is based on a fixed quantity of gold. The gold standard was the basis for the international monetary system from the 1870s to the early 1920s, and from the late 1920s to 1932 as well as from 1944 until 1971 when the United States unilaterally terminated convertibility of the US dollar to gold, effectively ending the Bretton Woods system. Many states nonetheless hold substantial gold reserves.
In economics, inflation is a general increase of the prices of goods and services in an economy. This is usually measured using the consumer price index (CPI). When the general price level rises, each unit of currency buys fewer goods and services; consequently, inflation corresponds to a reduction in the purchasing power of money. The opposite of CPI inflation is deflation, a decrease in the general price level of goods and services. The common measure of inflation is the inflation rate, the annualized percentage change in a general price index. As prices faced by households do not all increase at the same rate, the consumer price index (CPI) is often used for this purpose. The employment cost index is also used for wages in the United States.
Esperanto symbols, primarily the Esperanto flag, have seen much consistency over the time of the language's existence, though a few variations in exact flag patterning and symbology exist.
In finance, an exchange rate is the rate at which one currency will be exchanged for another currency. Currencies are most commonly national currencies, but may be sub-national as in the case of Hong Kong or supra-national as in the case of the euro.
In economics, unit of account is one of the functions of money. A unit of account is a standard numerical monetary unit of measurement of the market value of goods, services, and other transactions. Also known as a "measure" or "standard" of relative worth and deferred payment, a unit of account is a necessary prerequisite for the formulation of commercial agreements that involve debt.
The mark was a currency or unit of account in many states. It is named for the mark unit of weight. The word mark comes from a merging of three Germanic words, Latinised in 9th-century post-classical Latin as marca, marcha, marha or marcus. It was a measure of weight mainly for gold and silver, commonly used throughout Europe and often equivalent to 8 troy ounces (250 g). Considerable variations, however, occurred throughout the Middle Ages.
In macroeconomics and modern monetary policy, a devaluation is an official lowering of the value of a country's currency within a fixed exchange-rate system, in which a monetary authority formally sets a lower exchange rate of the national currency in relation to a foreign reference currency or currency basket. The opposite of devaluation, a change in the exchange rate making the domestic currency more expensive, is called a revaluation. A monetary authority maintains a fixed value of its currency by being ready to buy or sell foreign currency with the domestic currency at a stated rate; a devaluation is an indication that the monetary authority will buy and sell foreign currency at a lower rate.
The European Monetary System (EMS) was a multilateral adjustable exchange rate agreement in which most of the nations of the European Economic Community (EEC) linked their currencies to prevent large fluctuations in relative value. It was initiated in 1979 under then President of the European Commission Roy Jenkins as an agreement among the Member States of the EEC to foster monetary policy co-operation among their Central Banks for the purpose of managing inter-community exchange rates and financing exchange market interventions.
Esperanto and Interlingua are two planned languages with different approaches to the problem of providing an International auxiliary language (IAL). Esperanto has many more speakers; the number of speakers is c. 100,000-2,000,000. On the other hand, the number of speakers is c. 1,500 for Interlingua, but speakers of the language claim to be able to communicate easily with the c. 1 billion speakers of Romance languages, whereas Esperanto speakers can only communicate among each other.
The spesmilo is an obsolete decimal international currency, proposed in 1907 by René de Saussure and used before World War I by a few British and Swiss banks, primarily the Ĉekbanko Esperantista.
The guilder or florin was the currency of the Netherlands from 1434 until 2002, when it was replaced by the euro.
Money is any item or verifiable record that is generally accepted as payment for goods and services and repayment of debts, such as taxes, in a particular country or socio-economic context. The primary functions which distinguish money are: medium of exchange, a unit of account, a store of value and sometimes, a standard of deferred payment.
In monetary economics, redenomination is the process of changing the face value of banknotes and coins in circulation. It may be done because inflation has made the currency unit so small that only large denominations of the currency are in circulation. In such cases the name of the currency may change or the original name may be used with a temporary qualifier such as "new". Redenomination may be done for other reasons such as changing over to a new currency such as the Euro or during decimalisation.
The United States dollar is the official currency of the United States and several other countries. The Coinage Act of 1792 introduced the U.S. dollar at par with the Spanish silver dollar, divided it into 100 cents, and authorized the minting of coins denominated in dollars and cents. U.S. banknotes are issued in the form of Federal Reserve Notes, popularly called greenbacks due to their predominantly green color.
Fiat money is a type of currency that is not backed by a commodity, such as gold or silver. It is typically designated by the issuing government to be legal tender, and is authorized by government regulation.
The Esperanto workers movement has the goal of taking practical advantage of the international language Esperanto for advancing the goals of the labour movement, especially the fight against unrestrained capitalism. It is not only a political movement in the strict sense but also a cultural and educational one. Currently the principal Esperanto associations active in the Esperanto workers movement at the global level are the Sennacieca Asocio Tutmonda and the Internacia Komunista Esperantista Kolektivo, and in a wider sense, the Monda Asembleo Socia.
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