Editing Universal Esperanto Association (section)

=== Attempts at organization in the interbellum, 1920–1933 ===
[[File:1926-Locarno.jpg|right|thumb|upright=1|Meeting of the international Esperanto leaders in [[Locarno|Locarno, Switzerland]], in 1926 (some months after the famous [[Locarno Conference]] of the European political leaders)]]
In 1920, the Esperanto movement gathered again for the first time since the war, at [[The Hague]] congress. The discussions eventually created the so-called Helsinki system, on which UEA and the national associations agreed at the congress of 1922 in the [[Helsinki|Finnish capital]]. This system defined the movement to consist of these 'official' entities:
* ''Universala Esperanto Asocio'' (UEA), the international members' association in Geneva; it paid contributions to a common budget
* ''Konstanta Komitato de la Naciaj Societoj'' (''Ko-Ro'', Permanent Committee of the National Associations), a newly created body to represent the national associations; it collected contributions from the national associations for the common budget
* ''Internacia Centra Komitato de la Esperanto-Movado'' (''ICK'', International Central Committee of the Esperanto Movement), a newly created six-member body elected by UEA and ''Ko-Ro'' together; administering the common budget and doing the operational business for common international tasks, also representing the movement as a whole. It had a paid secretary.
* the congress committee, administered and subsidized by the ''ICK''
* the language committee (later the Academy of Esperanto), subsidized by the ''ICK''

This Helsinki system lasted for only a couple of years. The heads of the movement saw that at the world congresses there was considerable overlap, and three separate groups were discussing essentially the same subjects: the ''Komitato'' of UEA, the ''Ko-Ro'' of the national associations and the six members of the ''ICK.'' From 1929, they all had a joint gathering called ''Ĝenerala Estraro'' (general board). A number of proposals came up in the movement to reform the organization.

The final blow to the Helsinki system came in 1932 when UEA did not pay its contributions for the common budget, and the same was true for some of the national associations. The British, German and French associations, the largest ones, took up the initiative to found a new organization, ''Universala Federacio Esperantista'' (World Federation of Esperantists), as a federation of national associations. This new organization had scarcely come into existence when in early 1933 the UEA and the national organizations agreed on a complete reform of the movement.