Manabendra Nath Roy
Encyclopedia
Manabendra Nath Roy (1887 - 1954), born Narendra Nath Bhattacharya and popularly known as M. N. Roy, was an Indian
nationalist revolutionary and an internationally known radical activist and political theorist. Roy was a founder of the Communist Parties in both Mexico
and India
and was a delegate to congresses of the Communist International. Following the rise of Joseph Stalin
, Roy left the mainline communist
movement to pursue an independent radical politics. In 1940 Roy was instrumental in the formation of the Radical Democratic Party
, an organization in which he played a leading role for much of the decade of the 1940s. Roy later moved away from Marxism
to become an exponent of the philosophy of Radical Humanism.
of West Bengal
, near Calcutta (Kolkata)
.
The Bhattacharyas were Sakta brahmins
— a family of hereditary priests. Naren's paternal grandfather was the head priest of the goddess Ksheputeswari in the village of Ksheput, located in the Midnapore district
of West Bengal. Naren's father also served for a time in priestly capacity there, although the large size of his family — he being one of 11 siblings — forced a relocation to the village of Arbelia and a change of occupation.
Following the death of his first wife, the elder Bhattacharya married Basantakumari Devi, the niece of Dwarkanath Vidyabhusan
and was appointed as a teacher of Sanskrit
in the nearby Arbelia English school. The couple had a total of eight children, including the fourth-born Naren.
Naren Bhattacharya's early schooling took place at Arbelia. In 1898 the family moved to Kodalia
. Bhattacharya continued his studies at the Harinavi Anglo-Sanskrit School, at which his father taught, until 1905.
Bhattacharya later enrolled at the National College under Sri Aurobindo
, before moving to the Bengal Technical Institute
, where he studied Engineering
and Chemistry
. Much of Bhattacharya's knowledge was gained through self-study, however.
began to spread among the educated middle classes of Bengal, inspired by the writings of Bankim
and Vivekananda
. Naren Bhattacharya was swept up in this movement, reading both of these leading luminaries extensively.
According to one biographer, Roy gained an appreciation from Bankim that true religion required one not to be cloistered from the world, but to work actively for the public good; Vivekananda reinforced this notion of social service and further advanced the idea that Hinduism
and Indian culture was superior to anything the western world could offer.
With his cousin and childhood friend Hari Kumar Chakravarti (1882-1963), he formed a band of free-thinkers
including Satcowri Banerjee and the brothers, Saileshvar and Shyamsundar Bose. Two other cousins of Bhattacharya and Chakravarti — Phani and Narendra Chakravarti — often came from Deoghar
, where they went to school with Barin Ghosh. A mysterious Vedic scholar, Mokshadacharan Samadhyayi
, active organiser of secret branches of the Anushilan Samiti
in Chinsura started frequenting Bhattacharya group.
In July 1905 a partition of Bengal
was announced, scheduled to take effect in October. A spontaneous mass movement aimed at annulment of the partition emerged, giving radical nationalists like Naren Bhattacharya and his co-thinkers an opportunity to build broader support for their ideas. Following his expulsion from high school for organizing a meeting and a march against the partition, Bhattacharya and Chakravarti moved to Kolkata and joined in the active work of the Anushilan.
Under Mokshada’s leadership, on 6 December 1907 Bhattacharya successfully committed the first act of political banditry in order to raise money for the secret society. When arrested, he was carrying two seditious books by Barin Ghosh. Defended by the Barrister J.N. Roy (close friend of Jatindranath Mukherjee or Bagha Jatin
) and the pleader Promothonath Mukherjee, he got released on bail, thanks to his reputation as a student and social worker.
Unhappy with Barin’s highly centralised and authoritative way of leadership, Bhattacharya and his group had been looking for something more constructive than making bombs at the Maniktala
garden. Two incidents sharpened their interest in an alternative leadership. Barin had sent Prafulla Chaki
with Charuchandra Datta to see Bagha Jatin
at Darjeeling who was posted there on official duty, and do away with the Lt. Governor; on explaining to Prafulla that the time was not yet ripe, Jatin promised to contact him later. Though Prafulla was much impressed by this hero, Barin cynically commented that it would be too much of an effort for a Government officer to serve a patriotic cause. Shortly after, Phani returned from Darjeeling, after a short holiday: fascinated by Jatin’s charisma, he informed his friends about the unusual man. On hearing Barin censuring Phani for disloyalty, Bhattacharya decided to see that exceptional Dada and got caught for good.
The Howrah-Shibpur Trial (1910–11) brought Bhattacharya closer to Jatindra Mukherjee.
. To the furtherance of this end, revolutionary nationalists looked to a rival imperial power, that of Kaiser Wilhelm's
Germany
, as a potential source of funds and armaments.
In August 1914 a massive European war
erupted between Britain and Germany. Expatriate Indian nationalists organized as the Indian Revolutionary Committee in Berlin
made an informal approach to the German government in support of aid to the cause of anti-British armed struggle in their native land. These contacts were favorable and towards the end of the year word reached India that the Germans had agreed to provide the money and material necessary for the launch of an Indian war of independence from British rule. Revolution seemed near.
The task of obtaining funds and armaments for the coming struggle was entrusted to Naren Bhattacharya. Bhattacharya was dispatched first to Java
, where over the next two months he was able to obtain some limited funds, albeit no armaments.
Early in 1915, Bhattacharya set out again, leaving India in search of vaguely promised German armaments which were believed to be en route, somewhere on the Pacific. Roy would not see his homeland again for 16 years.
The actual plan seemed fantastic, as Bhattacharya-Roy later recounted in his posthumously-published memoirs:
At the last minute, money for the conduct of the operation failed to materialize and "the German Consul General mysteriously disappeared on the day when he was to issue orders for the execution of the plan," Bhattacharya recalled.
Disgusted but still holding out hope, Bhattacharya left Indonesia for Japan, hoping to win Japanese support for the liberation of Asia from European imperialism, despite Japan's nominal alliance with Great Britain. There he met with Chinese nationalist leader Sun Yat-sen
, who had escaped to Japan following the failure of a July 1913 uprising in Nanking.
Sun Yat-sen refused to assist Bhattacharya in his task of organizing anti-British revolution in India, expressing instead faith instead in the ultimate liberating mission of Japan and his own powerlessness owing to British control of Hong Kong
, Sun's base of operations in South China. Efforts to raise money from the German Ambassador to China were likewise unsuccessful.
Bhattacharya's activities soon drew the attention of the Japanese secret police
, who were concerned about Bhattacharya's efforts at fomenting revolution. Upon learning that he was about to be served formal notice to leave Japan within 24 hours and not wishing to be deported to Shanghai
, Bhattacharya immediately set about leaving the country overland through Korea
. He tried to make his way from there to Peking (Beijing)
, but by this time he was spotted and identified by the British secret police, who detained him. Only through a stroke of good fortune was Bhattacharya able to win his release from the police, due to the British Consul General's ill ease with holding a British subject indefinitely without having formal charges first been preferred.
Further efforts to raise funds for armaments from the German consulate at Hankow resulted in a further tentative agreement. However, this plan also came to naught owing to the size of the commitment, which had to be approved in Berlin, according to German Ambassador to China Admiral Paul von Hintze
. Bhattacharya determined to take his plan for German funding next to the German Ambassador in the United States, before heading to Germany itself. Employees of the German embassy were able to assist Bhattacharya in obtaining a place as a stowaway aboard an American ship with a German crew, bound for San Francisco.
Although they knew he was onboard the ship, British authorities stopping the vessel in international waters were unable to locate Bhattacharya in the secret compartment in which he was hurriedly hidden. In an effort to throw the British off his trail — and in an effort to obtain more suitable accommodations for the long trans-Pacific voyage, Bhattacharya stealthily disembarked at Kobe
, Japan.
In Kobe Bhattacharya made use of a false French-Indian passport previously obtained for him by the Germans in China. Posing as a seminary student bound for Paris, Bhattacharya obtained an American passport visa, bought a ticket, and sailed for San Francisco.
graduate named Evelyn Trent. The pair fell in love and journeyed together across the country to New York City
.
It was in the New York City
public library that Roy began to develop his interest in Marxism. His socialist transition under Lala owed much to Bankim Chandra Chatterjee’s essays on communism and Vivekananda’s message of serving the proletariat. Bothered by British
spies, Roy fled to Mexico
in July 1917 with Evelyn. German military authorities, on the spot, gave him large amounts of money.
The Mexican president Venustiano Carranza
and other liberal thinkers appreciated Roy’s writings for El Pueblo
. The Socialist Party he founded (December 1917), was converted into Communist Party of Mexico, the first Communist Party outside Russia
. The Roys lodged a penniless Mikhail Borodin
, the Bolshevik
leader, under special circumstances. On the basis of a grateful Borodin’s reports on Roy’s activities, Moscow
was to invite Roy to the 2nd World Congress
of the Communist International, held in Moscow during the summer of 1920.
A few weeks before the Congress, Vladimir Lenin
personally received Roy with great warmth. At Lenin's behest, Roy formulated his own ideas as a supplement to Lenin’s Preliminary Draft Theses on the National and the Colonial Questions.
Material from Roy's pen was published by International Press Correspondence ("Inprecor"), the weekly bulletin of the Communist International. Roy served as a member of the Comintern's Presidium for eight years and at one stage was a member of the Presidium, the Political Secretariat, the Executive Committee, and the World Congress.
Commissioned by Lenin to prepare the East — especially India — for revolution, Roy founded military and political schools in Tashkent
. In October 1920, as he formed the Communist Party of India
, he contacted his erstwhile revolutionary colleagues who, at this juncture, were hesitating between Radicalism (Jugantar
) and Mohandas K. Gandhi’s novel programme. Close to the Jugantar in spirit and action, C. R. Das inspired Roy’s confidence. From Moscow, Roy published his major reflections, India in Transition, almost simultaneously translated into other languages. In 1922 appeared Roy’s own journal, the Vanguard, organ of the emigre Communist Party of India. These were followed by The Future of Indian Politics (1926) and Revolution and Counter-revolution in China (1930), while he had been tossing between Germany
and France
.
Leading a Comintern
delegation appointed by Joseph Stalin
to develop agrarian revolution in China
, Roy reached Canton
in February 1927. Despite fulfilling his mission with skill, a disagreement with the CCP leaders and Borodin led him to a fiasco. Roy returned to Moscow
where factions supporting Leon Trotsky
and Grigory Zinoviev
were busy fighting with Stalin’s.
Stalin refused to meet Roy and give him a hearing at the plenum in February 1928. Denied a decent treatment for an infected ear, Roy escaped with Nikolai Bukharin
’s help, sparing himself Stalin’s anger. Shortly after Trotsky’s deportation, on 22 May 1928, Roy received the permission to go abroad for medical treatment on board a Berlin
-bound plane of the Russo-German Airline Deruluft. In December 1929, the Imprecor announced Roy’s expulsion from the Comintern, almost simultaneously with Bukharin’s falling in disgrace.
and Subhas Bose. Nehru was to write on Roy, “There was a great deal of difference between us, and yet I felt attracted towards him... I was attracted to him by his remarkable intellectual capacity.” Arrested in July 1931, Roy was tried for several conspiracy cases, and he served six years’ imprisonment.
Despite his imprisonment, Roy still managed to contribute to the Indian national liberation movement. A steady stream of letters and articles were smuggled out of jail. He also wrote a 3000-page draft manuscript provisionally titled The Philosophical Consequence of Modern Science.
Released in November 1936 in broken health, Roy went to Allahabad
for recovery, invited by Nehru. Defying the Comintern order to boycott the Indian Congress, Roy urged Indian communists to join this Party to radicalise it. Nehru, in his presidential address at Faizpur
session in December 1936, greeted the presence of Roy, as
From the podium Roy in his speech recommended the capture of power by Constituent Assembly. Unable to collaborate with Gandhi, however, Roy was to stick to his own conviction. In April 1937, his weekly Independent India appeared and rejoiced progressive leaders like Bose and Nehru, unlike Gandhi, and the staunch communists who accused Roy of deviation.
, in June, he formed his League of Radical Congressmen. Disillusioned with both bourgeois democracy and communism, he devoted the last years of his life to the formulation of an alternative philosophy which he called Radical Humanism and of which he wrote a detailed exposition in Reason, Romanticism and Revolution.
In his monumental biography, In Freedom’s Quest, Sibnarayan Ray writes: "If Nehru had his problems, so had Roy. From early life his sharp intellect was matched by a strong will and extra-ordinary self-confidence. It would seem that in his long political career there were only two persons and a half who, in his estimate, qualified to be his mentors. The first was Jatin Mukherji (or Bagha Jatin
) from his revolutionary nationalist period; the second was Lenin. The half was Josef Stalin...."
Communism disregarded and hated man : Roy in his philosophy devised means to ensure human freedom and progress. Remembering Bagha Jatin who “personified the best of mankind”, Roy worked “for the ideal of establishing a social order in which the best in man could be manifest.” In 1947, he elaborated his theses into a manifesto, New Humanism, expected to be as important as the Communist Manifesto by Marx a century earlier.
With the declaration of World War II
, Roy (in a position close to that of Sri Aurobindo
) condemned the rising totalitarian regimes in Germany and Italy, instead supporting England and France in the fight against fascism. He severed connections with the Congress Party
and created the Radical Democratic Party
in 1940. Gandhi proceeded to foment “Quit India” in August 1942. Roy’s line was clearly different from that of the mainstream of the national liberation movement. According to Roy, a victory for Germany and the Axis powers would have resulted in the end of democracy worldwide and India would never be independent. In his view India could win her freedom only in a free world.
Sensing India’s freedom to be a post-war reality following the defeat of the Axis powers and the weakening of British imperialism, Roy wrote a series of articles in Independent India on the economic and political structures of new India, even presenting a concrete ten-year plan, and drafting a Constitution of Free India (1944).
Beginning in 1987, Oxford University Press
began the publication of the Selected Works of M.N. Roy. A total of 4 volumes were published through 1997, gathering Roy's writings through his prison years. Project editor Sibnarayan Ray died in 2008, however, and the Roy works publishing project seems to have consequently stalled.
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
nationalist revolutionary and an internationally known radical activist and political theorist. Roy was a founder of the Communist Parties in both Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
and India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
and was a delegate to congresses of the Communist International. Following the rise of Joseph Stalin
Joseph Stalin
Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin was the Premier of the Soviet Union from 6 May 1941 to 5 March 1953. He was among the Bolshevik revolutionaries who brought about the October Revolution and had held the position of first General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union's Central Committee...
, Roy left the mainline communist
Communism
Communism is a social, political and economic ideology that aims at the establishment of a classless, moneyless, revolutionary and stateless socialist society structured upon common ownership of the means of production...
movement to pursue an independent radical politics. In 1940 Roy was instrumental in the formation of the Radical Democratic Party
Radical Democratic Party (India)
Radical Democratic Party, political party in India which existed at the time of the Second World War. RDP evolved out of the League of Radical Congressmen, which had been founded in 1939 by former Communist International leader M.N. Roy. Roy founded RDP in 1940 with the purpose of engaging India in...
, an organization in which he played a leading role for much of the decade of the 1940s. Roy later moved away from Marxism
Marxism
Marxism is an economic and sociopolitical worldview and method of socioeconomic inquiry that centers upon a materialist interpretation of history, a dialectical view of social change, and an analysis and critique of the development of capitalism. Marxism was pioneered in the early to mid 19th...
to become an exponent of the philosophy of Radical Humanism.
Early years
Narendra Nath "Naren" Bhattacharya, later known as M.N. Roy, was born on 21 March 1887 at Arbelia, located in the 24 Parganas24 Parganas
24 Parganas district is a former district of the Indian state of West Bengal. The district was split into two districts — North 24 Parganas district and South 24 Parganas district, with effect from 1 March 1986....
of West Bengal
West Bengal
West Bengal is a state in the eastern region of India and is the nation's fourth-most populous. It is also the seventh-most populous sub-national entity in the world, with over 91 million inhabitants. A major agricultural producer, West Bengal is the sixth-largest contributor to India's GDP...
, near Calcutta (Kolkata)
Kolkata
Kolkata , formerly known as Calcutta, is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal. Located on the east bank of the Hooghly River, it was the commercial capital of East India...
.
The Bhattacharyas were Sakta brahmins
Brahmin
Brahmin Brahman, Brahma and Brahmin.Brahman, Brahmin and Brahma have different meanings. Brahman refers to the Supreme Self...
— a family of hereditary priests. Naren's paternal grandfather was the head priest of the goddess Ksheputeswari in the village of Ksheput, located in the Midnapore district
Midnapore District
Midnapore district is a former district of the state of West Bengal, India. This district was bifurcated on January 1, 2002 into the Purba Medinipur district and the Paschim Medinipur district.-References:...
of West Bengal. Naren's father also served for a time in priestly capacity there, although the large size of his family — he being one of 11 siblings — forced a relocation to the village of Arbelia and a change of occupation.
Following the death of his first wife, the elder Bhattacharya married Basantakumari Devi, the niece of Dwarkanath Vidyabhusan
Dwarkanath Vidyabhusan
Dwarkanath Vidyabhusan was an Indian scholar, editor and publisher of the trend-setting weekly Bengali newspaper Somprakash.-Father:His father, Harachandra Bhattacharya was a scholar...
and was appointed as a teacher of Sanskrit
Sanskrit
Sanskrit , is a historical Indo-Aryan language and the primary liturgical language of Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism.Buddhism: besides Pali, see Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit Today, it is listed as one of the 22 scheduled languages of India and is an official language of the state of Uttarakhand...
in the nearby Arbelia English school. The couple had a total of eight children, including the fourth-born Naren.
Naren Bhattacharya's early schooling took place at Arbelia. In 1898 the family moved to Kodalia
Kodalia
Kodalia is a census town in Hooghly district in the Indian state of West Bengal. It is under Chinsurah police stations in Chinsurah subdivision.-Geography:Kodalia is located at .-Demographics:...
. Bhattacharya continued his studies at the Harinavi Anglo-Sanskrit School, at which his father taught, until 1905.
Bhattacharya later enrolled at the National College under Sri Aurobindo
Sri Aurobindo
Sri Aurobindo , born Aurobindo Ghosh or Ghose , was an Indian nationalist, freedom fighter, philosopher, yogi, guru, and poet. He joined the Indian movement for freedom from British rule and for a duration became one of its most important leaders, before developing his own vision of human progress...
, before moving to the Bengal Technical Institute
Jadavpur University
Jadavpur University , is a premier educational and research institution in India.It is located in Kolkata, West Bengal and comprises two campuses - the main campus at Jadavpur and the new campus at Salt Lake...
, where he studied Engineering
Engineering
Engineering is the discipline, art, skill and profession of acquiring and applying scientific, mathematical, economic, social, and practical knowledge, in order to design and build structures, machines, devices, systems, materials and processes that safely realize improvements to the lives of...
and Chemistry
Chemistry
Chemistry is the science of matter, especially its chemical reactions, but also its composition, structure and properties. Chemistry is concerned with atoms and their interactions with other atoms, and particularly with the properties of chemical bonds....
. Much of Bhattacharya's knowledge was gained through self-study, however.
Nationalist revolutionary
Towards the end of the 19th Century militant nationalismNationalism
Nationalism is a political ideology that involves a strong identification of a group of individuals with a political entity defined in national terms, i.e. a nation. In the 'modernist' image of the nation, it is nationalism that creates national identity. There are various definitions for what...
began to spread among the educated middle classes of Bengal, inspired by the writings of Bankim
Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay
Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay was a famous Bengali writer, poet and journalist. He was the composer of India’s national song Vande Mataram, originally a Bengali and Sanskrit stotra personifying India as a mother goddess and inspiring the activists during the Indian Freedom Movement...
and Vivekananda
Swami Vivekananda
Swami Vivekananda , born Narendranath Dutta , was the chief disciple of the 19th century mystic Ramakrishna Paramahansa and the founder of the Ramakrishna Math and the Ramakrishna Mission...
. Naren Bhattacharya was swept up in this movement, reading both of these leading luminaries extensively.
According to one biographer, Roy gained an appreciation from Bankim that true religion required one not to be cloistered from the world, but to work actively for the public good; Vivekananda reinforced this notion of social service and further advanced the idea that Hinduism
Hinduism
Hinduism is the predominant and indigenous religious tradition of the Indian Subcontinent. Hinduism is known to its followers as , amongst many other expressions...
and Indian culture was superior to anything the western world could offer.
With his cousin and childhood friend Hari Kumar Chakravarti (1882-1963), he formed a band of free-thinkers
Rationalism
In epistemology and in its modern sense, rationalism is "any view appealing to reason as a source of knowledge or justification" . In more technical terms, it is a method or a theory "in which the criterion of the truth is not sensory but intellectual and deductive"...
including Satcowri Banerjee and the brothers, Saileshvar and Shyamsundar Bose. Two other cousins of Bhattacharya and Chakravarti — Phani and Narendra Chakravarti — often came from Deoghar
Deoghar
Deoghar is the headquarters city of Deoghar District in the Santhal Parganas division of the state of Jharkhand, India. It is an important Hindu pilgrimage centre, having in Baidyanath Temple one of the twelve Shiva Jyothirlingams in India and also one of the 51 Shakti Peethas in India.-Origin of...
, where they went to school with Barin Ghosh. A mysterious Vedic scholar, Mokshadacharan Samadhyayi
Mokshadacharan Samadhyayi
Pandit Mokshada Charan Samadhyayi , though erudite in Sanskrit classics and specialist of the Samaveda, was a restless Brahman, a little known but leading figure of the Jugantar movement....
, active organiser of secret branches of the Anushilan Samiti
Anushilan Samiti
Anushilan Samiti was an armed anti-British organisation in Bengal and the principal secret revolutionary organisation operating in the region in the opening years of the 20th century. This association, like its offshoot the Jugantar, operated under the guise of suburban fitness club...
in Chinsura started frequenting Bhattacharya group.
In July 1905 a partition of Bengal
Partition of Bengal (1905)
The decision of the Partition of Bengal was announced on 19 July 1905 by the Viceroy of India, Lord Curzon. The partition took effect on 16 October 1905...
was announced, scheduled to take effect in October. A spontaneous mass movement aimed at annulment of the partition emerged, giving radical nationalists like Naren Bhattacharya and his co-thinkers an opportunity to build broader support for their ideas. Following his expulsion from high school for organizing a meeting and a march against the partition, Bhattacharya and Chakravarti moved to Kolkata and joined in the active work of the Anushilan.
Under Mokshada’s leadership, on 6 December 1907 Bhattacharya successfully committed the first act of political banditry in order to raise money for the secret society. When arrested, he was carrying two seditious books by Barin Ghosh. Defended by the Barrister J.N. Roy (close friend of Jatindranath Mukherjee or Bagha Jatin
Bagha Jatin
Bagha Jatin , born Jatindranath Mukherjee was an Bengali revolutionary philosopher against British rule....
) and the pleader Promothonath Mukherjee, he got released on bail, thanks to his reputation as a student and social worker.
Unhappy with Barin’s highly centralised and authoritative way of leadership, Bhattacharya and his group had been looking for something more constructive than making bombs at the Maniktala
Maniktala
-Location:The Maniktala crossing is the intersection of Vivekananda Road and Acharya Prafulla Chandra Road — two main thoroughfares in north Kolkata. The adjacent area is known as Maniktala.-Landmarks:...
garden. Two incidents sharpened their interest in an alternative leadership. Barin had sent Prafulla Chaki
Prafulla Chaki
Prafulla Chaki was a Bengali revolutionary associated with the Jugantar group of revolutionaries who carried out assassinations against British colonial officials in an attempt to secure Indian independence.- Early life :...
with Charuchandra Datta to see Bagha Jatin
Bagha Jatin
Bagha Jatin , born Jatindranath Mukherjee was an Bengali revolutionary philosopher against British rule....
at Darjeeling who was posted there on official duty, and do away with the Lt. Governor; on explaining to Prafulla that the time was not yet ripe, Jatin promised to contact him later. Though Prafulla was much impressed by this hero, Barin cynically commented that it would be too much of an effort for a Government officer to serve a patriotic cause. Shortly after, Phani returned from Darjeeling, after a short holiday: fascinated by Jatin’s charisma, he informed his friends about the unusual man. On hearing Barin censuring Phani for disloyalty, Bhattacharya decided to see that exceptional Dada and got caught for good.
The Howrah-Shibpur Trial (1910–11) brought Bhattacharya closer to Jatindra Mukherjee.
The Indo-German conspiracy
Many Indian nationalists, including Roy, became convinced that only an armed struggle against the occupying forces of Great Britain would be sufficient to separate India from the British empireBritish Empire
The British Empire comprised the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom. It originated with the overseas colonies and trading posts established by England in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. At its height, it was the...
. To the furtherance of this end, revolutionary nationalists looked to a rival imperial power, that of Kaiser Wilhelm's
Kaiser Wilhelm
Kaiser Wilhelm is a common reference to two German emperors:* Wilhelm I, German Emperor , King of Prussia; became the first Kaiser of a united Germany...
Germany
German Empire
The German Empire refers to Germany during the "Second Reich" period from the unification of Germany and proclamation of Wilhelm I as German Emperor on 18 January 1871, to 1918, when it became a federal republic after defeat in World War I and the abdication of the Emperor, Wilhelm II.The German...
, as a potential source of funds and armaments.
In August 1914 a massive European war
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
erupted between Britain and Germany. Expatriate Indian nationalists organized as the Indian Revolutionary Committee in Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
made an informal approach to the German government in support of aid to the cause of anti-British armed struggle in their native land. These contacts were favorable and towards the end of the year word reached India that the Germans had agreed to provide the money and material necessary for the launch of an Indian war of independence from British rule. Revolution seemed near.
The task of obtaining funds and armaments for the coming struggle was entrusted to Naren Bhattacharya. Bhattacharya was dispatched first to Java
Java
Java is an island of Indonesia. With a population of 135 million , it is the world's most populous island, and one of the most densely populated regions in the world. It is home to 60% of Indonesia's population. The Indonesian capital city, Jakarta, is in west Java...
, where over the next two months he was able to obtain some limited funds, albeit no armaments.
Early in 1915, Bhattacharya set out again, leaving India in search of vaguely promised German armaments which were believed to be en route, somewhere on the Pacific. Roy would not see his homeland again for 16 years.
The actual plan seemed fantastic, as Bhattacharya-Roy later recounted in his posthumously-published memoirs:
"The plan was to use German ships interned in a port at the norther tip of SumatraSumatraSumatra is an island in western Indonesia, westernmost of the Sunda Islands. It is the largest island entirely in Indonesia , and the sixth largest island in the world at 473,481 km2 with a population of 50,365,538...
, to storm the Andaman IslandsAndaman IslandsThe Andaman Islands are a group of Indian Ocean archipelagic islands in the Bay of Bengal between India to the west, and Burma , to the north and east...
and free and arm the prisoners there, and land the army of liberation on the OrissaOrissaOrissa , officially Odisha since Nov 2011, is a state of India, located on the east coast of India, by the Bay of Bengal. It is the modern name of the ancient nation of Kalinga, which was invaded by the Maurya Emperor Ashoka in 261 BC. The modern state of Orissa was established on 1 April...
coast. The ships were armoured, as many big German vessels were, ready for wartime use. they also carried several guns each. The crew was composed of naval ratings. They had to escape from the internment camp, seize the ships, and sail.... Several hundred rifles and other small arms with an adequate supply of ammunition could be acquired through Chinese smugglers who would get then on board the ships."
At the last minute, money for the conduct of the operation failed to materialize and "the German Consul General mysteriously disappeared on the day when he was to issue orders for the execution of the plan," Bhattacharya recalled.
Disgusted but still holding out hope, Bhattacharya left Indonesia for Japan, hoping to win Japanese support for the liberation of Asia from European imperialism, despite Japan's nominal alliance with Great Britain. There he met with Chinese nationalist leader Sun Yat-sen
Sun Yat-sen
Sun Yat-sen was a Chinese doctor, revolutionary and political leader. As the foremost pioneer of Nationalist China, Sun is frequently referred to as the "Father of the Nation" , a view agreed upon by both the People's Republic of China and the Republic of China...
, who had escaped to Japan following the failure of a July 1913 uprising in Nanking.
Sun Yat-sen refused to assist Bhattacharya in his task of organizing anti-British revolution in India, expressing instead faith instead in the ultimate liberating mission of Japan and his own powerlessness owing to British control of Hong Kong
Hong Kong
Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...
, Sun's base of operations in South China. Efforts to raise money from the German Ambassador to China were likewise unsuccessful.
Bhattacharya's activities soon drew the attention of the Japanese secret police
Secret police
Secret police are a police agency which operates in secrecy and beyond the law to protect the political power of an individual dictator or an authoritarian political regime....
, who were concerned about Bhattacharya's efforts at fomenting revolution. Upon learning that he was about to be served formal notice to leave Japan within 24 hours and not wishing to be deported to Shanghai
Shanghai
Shanghai is the largest city by population in China and the largest city proper in the world. It is one of the four province-level municipalities in the People's Republic of China, with a total population of over 23 million as of 2010...
, Bhattacharya immediately set about leaving the country overland through Korea
Korea
Korea ) is an East Asian geographic region that is currently divided into two separate sovereign states — North Korea and South Korea. Located on the Korean Peninsula, Korea is bordered by the People's Republic of China to the northwest, Russia to the northeast, and is separated from Japan to the...
. He tried to make his way from there to Peking (Beijing)
Beijing
Beijing , also known as Peking , is the capital of the People's Republic of China and one of the most populous cities in the world, with a population of 19,612,368 as of 2010. The city is the country's political, cultural, and educational center, and home to the headquarters for most of China's...
, but by this time he was spotted and identified by the British secret police, who detained him. Only through a stroke of good fortune was Bhattacharya able to win his release from the police, due to the British Consul General's ill ease with holding a British subject indefinitely without having formal charges first been preferred.
Further efforts to raise funds for armaments from the German consulate at Hankow resulted in a further tentative agreement. However, this plan also came to naught owing to the size of the commitment, which had to be approved in Berlin, according to German Ambassador to China Admiral Paul von Hintze
Paul von Hintze
Paul von Hintze was a German naval officer and diplomatist, who served as Foreign Minister of Germany in the last stages of World War I, from July to October 1918....
. Bhattacharya determined to take his plan for German funding next to the German Ambassador in the United States, before heading to Germany itself. Employees of the German embassy were able to assist Bhattacharya in obtaining a place as a stowaway aboard an American ship with a German crew, bound for San Francisco.
Although they knew he was onboard the ship, British authorities stopping the vessel in international waters were unable to locate Bhattacharya in the secret compartment in which he was hurriedly hidden. In an effort to throw the British off his trail — and in an effort to obtain more suitable accommodations for the long trans-Pacific voyage, Bhattacharya stealthily disembarked at Kobe
Kobe
, pronounced , is the fifth-largest city in Japan and is the capital city of Hyōgo Prefecture on the southern side of the main island of Honshū, approximately west of Osaka...
, Japan.
In Kobe Bhattacharya made use of a false French-Indian passport previously obtained for him by the Germans in China. Posing as a seminary student bound for Paris, Bhattacharya obtained an American passport visa, bought a ticket, and sailed for San Francisco.
International revolutionary
During his stay in Palo Alto, a period of about two months, Roy met his future wife, a young Stanford UniversityStanford University
The Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University or Stanford, is a private research university on an campus located near Palo Alto, California. It is situated in the northwestern Santa Clara Valley on the San Francisco Peninsula, approximately northwest of San...
graduate named Evelyn Trent. The pair fell in love and journeyed together across the country to New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
.
It was in the New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
public library that Roy began to develop his interest in Marxism. His socialist transition under Lala owed much to Bankim Chandra Chatterjee’s essays on communism and Vivekananda’s message of serving the proletariat. Bothered by British
British people
The British are citizens of the United Kingdom, of the Isle of Man, any of the Channel Islands, or of any of the British overseas territories, and their descendants...
spies, Roy fled to Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
in July 1917 with Evelyn. German military authorities, on the spot, gave him large amounts of money.
The Mexican president Venustiano Carranza
Venustiano Carranza
Venustiano Carranza de la Garza, was one of the leaders of the Mexican Revolution. He ultimately became President of Mexico following the overthrow of the dictatorial Huerta regime in the summer of 1914 and during his administration the current constitution of Mexico was drafted...
and other liberal thinkers appreciated Roy’s writings for El Pueblo
El Pueblo
El Pueblo was a Spanish daily newspaper, the central organ of the Syndicalist Party during the 1930s....
. The Socialist Party he founded (December 1917), was converted into Communist Party of Mexico, the first Communist Party outside Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
. The Roys lodged a penniless Mikhail Borodin
Mikhail Borodin
Mikhail Markovich Borodin was the alias of Mikhail Gruzenberg, a Comintern agent and Soviet arms dealer....
, the Bolshevik
Bolshevik
The Bolsheviks, originally also Bolshevists , derived from bol'shinstvo, "majority") were a faction of the Marxist Russian Social Democratic Labour Party which split apart from the Menshevik faction at the Second Party Congress in 1903....
leader, under special circumstances. On the basis of a grateful Borodin’s reports on Roy’s activities, Moscow
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
was to invite Roy to the 2nd World Congress
2nd World Congress of the Comintern
The 2nd World Congress of the Comintern was a gathering of approximately 220 voting and non-voting representatives of Communist and revolutionary socialist political parties from around the world, held in Petrograd and Moscow from July 19 to August 7, 1920...
of the Communist International, held in Moscow during the summer of 1920.
A few weeks before the Congress, Vladimir Lenin
Vladimir Lenin
Vladimir Ilyich Lenin was a Russian Marxist revolutionary and communist politician who led the October Revolution of 1917. As leader of the Bolsheviks, he headed the Soviet state during its initial years , as it fought to establish control of Russia in the Russian Civil War and worked to create a...
personally received Roy with great warmth. At Lenin's behest, Roy formulated his own ideas as a supplement to Lenin’s Preliminary Draft Theses on the National and the Colonial Questions.
Material from Roy's pen was published by International Press Correspondence ("Inprecor"), the weekly bulletin of the Communist International. Roy served as a member of the Comintern's Presidium for eight years and at one stage was a member of the Presidium, the Political Secretariat, the Executive Committee, and the World Congress.
Commissioned by Lenin to prepare the East — especially India — for revolution, Roy founded military and political schools in Tashkent
Tashkent
Tashkent is the capital of Uzbekistan and of the Tashkent Province. The officially registered population of the city in 2008 was about 2.2 million. Unofficial sources estimate the actual population may be as much as 4.45 million.-Early Islamic History:...
. In October 1920, as he formed the Communist Party of India
Communist Party of India
The Communist Party of India is a national political party in India. In the Indian communist movement, there are different views on exactly when the Indian communist party was founded. The date maintained as the foundation day by CPI is 26 December 1925...
, he contacted his erstwhile revolutionary colleagues who, at this juncture, were hesitating between Radicalism (Jugantar
Jugantar
Jugantar or Yugantar was one of the two main secret revolutionary trends operating in Bengal for Indian independence.This association, like Anushilan Samiti started in the guise of suburban fitness club. Several Jugantar members were arrested, hanged, or deported for life to the Cellular Jail in...
) and Mohandas K. Gandhi’s novel programme. Close to the Jugantar in spirit and action, C. R. Das inspired Roy’s confidence. From Moscow, Roy published his major reflections, India in Transition, almost simultaneously translated into other languages. In 1922 appeared Roy’s own journal, the Vanguard, organ of the emigre Communist Party of India. These were followed by The Future of Indian Politics (1926) and Revolution and Counter-revolution in China (1930), while he had been tossing between Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
and France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
.
Leading a Comintern
Comintern
The Communist International, abbreviated as Comintern, also known as the Third International, was an international communist organization initiated in Moscow during March 1919...
delegation appointed by Joseph Stalin
Joseph Stalin
Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin was the Premier of the Soviet Union from 6 May 1941 to 5 March 1953. He was among the Bolshevik revolutionaries who brought about the October Revolution and had held the position of first General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union's Central Committee...
to develop agrarian revolution in China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
, Roy reached Canton
Guangzhou
Guangzhou , known historically as Canton or Kwangchow, is the capital and largest city of the Guangdong province in the People's Republic of China. Located in southern China on the Pearl River, about north-northwest of Hong Kong, Guangzhou is a key national transportation hub and trading port...
in February 1927. Despite fulfilling his mission with skill, a disagreement with the CCP leaders and Borodin led him to a fiasco. Roy returned to Moscow
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
where factions supporting Leon Trotsky
Leon Trotsky
Leon Trotsky , born Lev Davidovich Bronshtein, was a Russian Marxist revolutionary and theorist, Soviet politician, and the founder and first leader of the Red Army....
and Grigory Zinoviev
Grigory Zinoviev
Grigory Yevseevich Zinoviev , born Ovsei-Gershon Aronovich Radomyslsky Apfelbaum , was a Bolshevik revolutionary and a Soviet Communist politician...
were busy fighting with Stalin’s.
Stalin refused to meet Roy and give him a hearing at the plenum in February 1928. Denied a decent treatment for an infected ear, Roy escaped with Nikolai Bukharin
Nikolai Bukharin
Nikolai Ivanovich Bukharin , was a Russian Marxist, Bolshevik revolutionary, and Soviet politician. He was a member of the Politburo and Central Committee , chairman of the Communist International , and the editor in chief of Pravda , the journal Bolshevik , Izvestia , and the Great Soviet...
’s help, sparing himself Stalin’s anger. Shortly after Trotsky’s deportation, on 22 May 1928, Roy received the permission to go abroad for medical treatment on board a Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
-bound plane of the Russo-German Airline Deruluft. In December 1929, the Imprecor announced Roy’s expulsion from the Comintern, almost simultaneously with Bukharin’s falling in disgrace.
Dissident communist
On reaching Bombay in December 1930, Roy met leaders like Jawaharlal NehruJawaharlal Nehru
Jawaharlal Nehru , often referred to with the epithet of Panditji, was an Indian statesman who became the first Prime Minister of independent India and became noted for his “neutralist” policies in foreign affairs. He was also one of the principal leaders of India’s independence movement in the...
and Subhas Bose. Nehru was to write on Roy, “There was a great deal of difference between us, and yet I felt attracted towards him... I was attracted to him by his remarkable intellectual capacity.” Arrested in July 1931, Roy was tried for several conspiracy cases, and he served six years’ imprisonment.
Despite his imprisonment, Roy still managed to contribute to the Indian national liberation movement. A steady stream of letters and articles were smuggled out of jail. He also wrote a 3000-page draft manuscript provisionally titled The Philosophical Consequence of Modern Science.
Released in November 1936 in broken health, Roy went to Allahabad
Allahabad
Allahabad , or Settled by God in Persian, is a major city of India and is one of the main holy cities of Hinduism. It was renamed by the Mughals from the ancient name of Prayaga , and is by some accounts the second-oldest city in India. It is located in the north Indian state of Uttar Pradesh,...
for recovery, invited by Nehru. Defying the Comintern order to boycott the Indian Congress, Roy urged Indian communists to join this Party to radicalise it. Nehru, in his presidential address at Faizpur
Faizpur
Faizpur is a city and a municipal council in Jalgaon district in the state of Maharashtra, India.- Geography :Faizpur is located at . It has an average elevation of 226 metres .-History:...
session in December 1936, greeted the presence of Roy, as
"one who, though young, is an old and well-tried soldier in India’s fight for freedom. Comrade M.N. Roy has just come to us after a long and most distressing period in prison, but though shaken up in body, he comes with a fresh mind and heart, eager to take part in that old struggle that knows no end till it ends in success."
From the podium Roy in his speech recommended the capture of power by Constituent Assembly. Unable to collaborate with Gandhi, however, Roy was to stick to his own conviction. In April 1937, his weekly Independent India appeared and rejoiced progressive leaders like Bose and Nehru, unlike Gandhi, and the staunch communists who accused Roy of deviation.
Radical humanist
In marrying Ellen Gottschalk, “Roy found not only a loving wife but also an intelligent helper and close collaborator.” They settled in Dehra Dun. Roy proposed an alternative leadership, seized the crisis following Bose’s re-election as the Congress President, in 1938: in PunePune
Pune , is the eighth largest metropolis in India, the second largest in the state of Maharashtra after Mumbai, and the largest city in the Western Ghats. Once the centre of power of the Maratha Empire, it is situated 560 metres above sea level on the Deccan plateau at the confluence of the Mula ...
, in June, he formed his League of Radical Congressmen. Disillusioned with both bourgeois democracy and communism, he devoted the last years of his life to the formulation of an alternative philosophy which he called Radical Humanism and of which he wrote a detailed exposition in Reason, Romanticism and Revolution.
In his monumental biography, In Freedom’s Quest, Sibnarayan Ray writes: "If Nehru had his problems, so had Roy. From early life his sharp intellect was matched by a strong will and extra-ordinary self-confidence. It would seem that in his long political career there were only two persons and a half who, in his estimate, qualified to be his mentors. The first was Jatin Mukherji (or Bagha Jatin
Bagha Jatin
Bagha Jatin , born Jatindranath Mukherjee was an Bengali revolutionary philosopher against British rule....
) from his revolutionary nationalist period; the second was Lenin. The half was Josef Stalin...."
Communism disregarded and hated man : Roy in his philosophy devised means to ensure human freedom and progress. Remembering Bagha Jatin who “personified the best of mankind”, Roy worked “for the ideal of establishing a social order in which the best in man could be manifest.” In 1947, he elaborated his theses into a manifesto, New Humanism, expected to be as important as the Communist Manifesto by Marx a century earlier.
With the declaration of World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, Roy (in a position close to that of Sri Aurobindo
Sri Aurobindo
Sri Aurobindo , born Aurobindo Ghosh or Ghose , was an Indian nationalist, freedom fighter, philosopher, yogi, guru, and poet. He joined the Indian movement for freedom from British rule and for a duration became one of its most important leaders, before developing his own vision of human progress...
) condemned the rising totalitarian regimes in Germany and Italy, instead supporting England and France in the fight against fascism. He severed connections with the Congress Party
Indian National Congress
The Indian National Congress is one of the two major political parties in India, the other being the Bharatiya Janata Party. It is the largest and one of the oldest democratic political parties in the world. The party's modern liberal platform is largely considered center-left in the Indian...
and created the Radical Democratic Party
Radical Democratic Party (India)
Radical Democratic Party, political party in India which existed at the time of the Second World War. RDP evolved out of the League of Radical Congressmen, which had been founded in 1939 by former Communist International leader M.N. Roy. Roy founded RDP in 1940 with the purpose of engaging India in...
in 1940. Gandhi proceeded to foment “Quit India” in August 1942. Roy’s line was clearly different from that of the mainstream of the national liberation movement. According to Roy, a victory for Germany and the Axis powers would have resulted in the end of democracy worldwide and India would never be independent. In his view India could win her freedom only in a free world.
Sensing India’s freedom to be a post-war reality following the defeat of the Axis powers and the weakening of British imperialism, Roy wrote a series of articles in Independent India on the economic and political structures of new India, even presenting a concrete ten-year plan, and drafting a Constitution of Free India (1944).
Death and legacy
A lecture tour to the USA was to be suspended, as Roy died on 25 January 1954.Beginning in 1987, Oxford University Press
Oxford University Press
Oxford University Press is the largest university press in the world. It is a department of the University of Oxford and is governed by a group of 15 academics appointed by the Vice-Chancellor known as the Delegates of the Press. They are headed by the Secretary to the Delegates, who serves as...
began the publication of the Selected Works of M.N. Roy. A total of 4 volumes were published through 1997, gathering Roy's writings through his prison years. Project editor Sibnarayan Ray died in 2008, however, and the Roy works publishing project seems to have consequently stalled.
Works
- Note: Adapted from "A Checklist of the Writings of M.N. Roy" in M.N. Roy's Memoirs. Delhi: Ajanta Publications, 1984; pp. 607-617.
- La voz de la India (The Voice of India). Mexico City: n.p., n.d. [c. 1917].
- La India: Su Pasado, Su Presente y Su Porvenir (India: Its Past, Its Present, and Its Future). Mexico City: n.p., 1918.
- Indien (India). Hamburg: Verlag der Kommunistischen Internationale, 1922.
- India in Transition. With Abani Mukherji. Geneva: J.B. Target, 1922.
- What Do We Want? Geneva: J.B. Target, 1922.
- One Year of Non-Cooperation from Ahmedabad to Gaya. With Evelyn Roy. Calcutta: Communist Party of India, 1923. —Imprint probably fictitious.
- India's Problem and Its Solution. n.c.: n.p., n.d. [c. 1923].
- Political Letters. Zurich: Vanguard Bookshop, 1924. —Alternate title: Letters to Indian Nationalists.
- Cawnpore Conspiracy Case: An Open Letter to the Rt. Hon. J.R. MacDonald. London: Indian Defence Committee, 1924.
- The Aftermath of Non-Cooperation: Indian Nationalism and Labour Politics. London: Communist Party of Great Britain, 1926.
- The Future of Indian Politics. London: R. Bishop [Communist Party of Great Britain], 1926.
- Our Task in India. n.c.: Bengal Committee of the Revolutionary Party of the Indian Working Class, n.d. [c. 1932].
- "I Accuse!" : From the Suppressed Statement of Manabendra Nath Roy on Trial for Treason before Sessions Court, Cawnpore, India. New York: Roy Defense Committee of India, 1932. —Title of Indian edition: My Defense.
- Congress at Crossroads, by a Congressman (M.N. Roy). Bombay: Independence of India League, [c. 1934].
- On Stepping Out of Jail. Bombay: V.B. Karnik, n.d. [c. 1936].
- Letters by M.N. Roy to the Congress Socialist Party, Written in 1934. Bombay: Renaissance Publishing Co., 1937.
- The Historical Role of Islam: An Essay on Islamic Culture. Bombay: Vora, 1937.
- Presidential Address of M.N. Roy, United Provinces Youths' Conference, May 29th and 30th, 1937, Sitapur. Bombay: R.D. Nadkarni, n.d. [1937].
- Materialism and Spiritualism: Presidential Address of M.N. Roy at the 3rd Session of the Madras Presidency Radical Youths' Conference, Held at Madras on 25th July 1937. Bombay: R.D. Nadkarni, n.d. [1937].
- My Crime. Bombay: Ramesh D. Nadkarni, n.d. [c. 1937].
- The Russian Revolution: A Review and the Perspective. Calcutta: D.M. Library, n.d. [c. 1937].
- Presidential Address of Com. M.N. Roy, First Rajputana-Central India Students' Conference, Benwar, 1st and 2nd January 1938. Bombay: n.p., n.d. [1938].
- All-India Sugar Mill Workers' Conference, Gorakhpur, Held on April 30th and May 1st, 1938: Presidential Address by Manabendra Nath Roy. Gorakhpur: n.p., n.d. [1938].
- Fascism: Its Philosophy, Professions and Practice. Calcutta: D.M. Library, 1938.
- On the Congress Constitution. Calcutta: "Independent India" Office, 1938.
- Our Differences. With V.B. Karnik. Calcuta: Saraswaty Library, 1938.
- Our Problems. With V.B. Karnik. Calcutta; Barendra Library, 1938.
- Gandhi vs. Roy: Containing Com. Roy's Letter to Gandhiji, the Latter's Reply and the Former's Rejoinder. Bombay: V.B. Karnik, 1939.
- Heresies of the Twentieth Century: Philosophical Essays. Bombay: Renaissance Publishers, 1939.
- Presidential Address by M.N. Roy at the First All-India Conference of the League of Radical Congressmen, Poona, 27th and 28th June 1939. Bombay: n.p., n.d. [1939].
- Tripuri and After. Nasik: Radical Congressmen's League, n.d. [1930s].
- Which Way, Lucknow? By a Radical Congressman (M.N. Roy). Bombay: M.R. Shetty, n.d. [1930s].
- The Memoirs of a Cat. n.c. [Dehra Dun]: Renaissance Publishers, 1940.
- Whither Europe? Bombay: Vora, 1940.
- The Alternative. Bombay: Vora, 1940.
- From Savagery to Civilisation. Calcutta: Digest Book House, 1940.
- Gandhism, Nationalism, Socialism. Calcutta: Bengal Radical Club, 1940.
- Science and Superstition. Dera Dun: Indian Renaissance Association, 1940.
- Materialism: An Outline of the History of Scientific Thought. Dera Dun: Renaissance Publishers, 1940.
- World Crisis (International Situation). (contributor) Ahmedabad: Gujrat Radical Democratic People's Party, 1940.
- The Relation of Classes in the Struggle for Indian Freedom. Patna: Bihar Radical Democratic People's Party, n.d. [c. 1940].
- Science, Philosophy and Politics. Moradabad: J.S. Agarwal, n.d. [c. 1940].
- A New Path: Manifesto and Constitution of the Radical Democratic Party. Bombay: V.B. Karnik, n.d. [c. 1940].
- Twentieth Century Jacobinism: Role of Marxism in Democratic Revolution. Patna: Radical Democratic Party, n.d. [c. 1940].
- Some Fundamental Problems of Mass Mobilization. Calcutta: D. Goonawardhana, n.d. [c. 1940].
- My Differences with the Congress: Speech at Allahbad University, November 27, 1940. Bombay: V.B. Karnik, League of Radical Congressmen, n.d. [c. 1940].
- On Communal Question. With V.B. Karnik. Lucknow: A.P. Singh, n.d. [c. 1940].
- Culture at the Crossroads: Cultural Requisites of Freedom. Calcutta: Leftist Book Club, n.d. [1940s].
- Radical Democratic Party's Message to the USSR. Calcutta: D. Goonawardhan, n.d. [1940s].
- Presidential Address by Com. M.N. Roy at the Maharashtra Provincial Conference of the Radical Democratic Party held at Poona on 22nd and 23rd March, 1941. Bombay: V.B. Karnik, n.d. [1941].
- The Ideal of Indian Womanhood. n.c. [Dehra Dun?]: Renaissance Publishers, 1941.
- Problem of the Indian Revolution. Bombay: Rajaram Panday, 1941.
- All-India Anti-Fascist Trade Union Conference: Presidential Address by M.N. Roy: Lahore, November 29th-30th, 1941. Lahore: M.A. Kahn, n.d. [1941].
- Scientific Politics: Lectures in the All India Political Study Camp, Dehradun, May and June 1940: Held under Auspices of All-India League of Radical Congressmen. Dehra Dun: Indian Renaissance Association, 1942.
- Freedom or Fascism? n.c. [Bombay?]: Radical Democratic Party, 1942.
- India and the War. (contributor) Lucknow: Radical Democratic Party, 1942.
- This War and Our Defence. Karachi: Sind Provincial Radical Democratic Party, 1942.
- War and Revolution: International Civil War. Madras: Radical Democratic Party, 1942.
- Origin of Radicalism in the Congress. Lucknow: S.S. Suri, 1942.
- Library of a Revolutionary: Being a List of Books for Serious Political Study. Lucknow: New Life Union, for the Indian Renaissance Association, 1942.
- This Way to Freedom: Report of the All-India Conference of the Radical Democratic Party held in December, 1942. (contributor) Delhi: Radical Democratic Party, 1942.
- Nationalism: An Antiquated Cult. Bombay: Radical Democratic Party, n.d. [c. 1942].
- Nationalism, Democracy, and Freedom. Bombay: Radical Democratic Party, n.d. [c. 1942].
- Letters from Jail. n.c. [Dehra Dun?]: Renaissance Publishing, 1943.
- The Communist International. Delhi: Radical Democratic Party, 1943.
- What is Marxism? Bombay: n.p., 1943.
- The Future of Socialism: Talk to the Calcutta Students' Club, November 1943. Calcutta: Renaissance Publishers, n.d. [1943].
- Poverty or Plenty? Calcutta: Renaissance Publishers, 1943.
- Indian Labour and Post-war Reconstruction. Lucknow: A.P. Singh, 1943.
- Indian Renaissance Movement: Three Lectures. Calcutta: Renaissance Publishers, 1944.
- The Future of the Middle Class: Lecture Delivered in Poona on May 29th, 1944, in the Annual Spring Lecture Series. Patna: Radical Democratic Party, n.d. [1944].
- Constitution of India, A Draft: Endorsed and Released for Public Discussion by the Central Secretariat of the Radical Democratic Party. Delhi: V.B. Karnik, 1944.
- Your Future: An Appeal to the Educated Middle Class. Issued by the Radical Democratic Party. Lucknow: Radical Democratic Party, 1944.
- Planning a New India. Calcutta: Renaissance Publishers, n.d. [c. 1944].
- National Government or People's Government? Calcutta: Renaissance Publishers, n.d. [c. 1944].
- Constitution of Free India, A Draft by M.N. Roy: Endorsed and Released for Public Discussion by the Radical Democratic Party. Delhi: Radical Democratic Party, 1945.
- The Last Battles of Freedom: Being the Report of the Calcutta Conference of the Radical Democratic Party, 27th to 30th December, 1944. Delhi: Radical Democratic Party, n.d. [1945].
- Post-War Perspective: A Peep into the Future. Delhi: Radical Democratic Party, 1945.
- Future of Democracy in India: Being the Full Text of a Speech Delivered at a Public Meeting Held at the Town Hall, Lucknow, on October 6, 1945. Delhi: Radical Democratic Party, n.d. [1945].
- The Problem of Freedom. Calcutta: Renaissance Publishers, 1945.
- My Experiences in China. Calcutta: Renaissance Publishers, 1945.
- Sino-Soviet Treaty. Calcutta: Renaissance Publishers, 1947.
- Jawaharial Nehru. Delhi: Radical Democratic Party, n.d. [c. 1945].
- INA and the August Revolution. Calcutta: Renaissance Publishers, 1946.
- Revolution and Counter-Revolution in China. Calcutta: Renaissance Publishers, 1946.
- A New Orientation: Statement on the International Situation. Delhi: Radical Democratic Party, 1946.
- A New Orientation: Review and Perspective of the International Struggle for a New World Order of Democratic Freedom, Economic Prosperity, and Cultural Progress. Dehra Dun: Radical Democratic Party, Bengal, 1946.
- New Orientation: Lectures Delivered at the Political Study Camp Held at Dehra Dun, from May 8th to 18th, 1946. With Phillip Spratt. Calcutta: Renaissance Publishers, 1946.
- Radical Democratic Party Conference Inaugural Address: Bombay, 20th, 21st, 22nd Dec. 1946: Presidential Address and Resolutions. Bombay: V.B. Karnik, n.d. [1947].
- Principles of Radical Democracy: Adopted by the Third All-India Conference by the Radical Democratic Party of India held in Bombay, 26th to 29th December 1946. Delhi: Radical Democratic Party, 1947. —Attributed to Roy.
- Leviathan and Octopus. Delhi: Radical Democratic Party, n.d. [1947].
- Asia and the World: A Manifesto. Delhi: Radical Democratic Party, 1947.
- Science and Philosophy. Calcutta: Renaissance Publishers, 1947.
- New Humanism: A Manifesto. Calcutta: Renaissance Publishers, 1947.
- Beyond Communism. With Philip Spratt. Calcutta: Renaissance Publishers, 1947.
- A New Approach to the Communal Program: Lecture Delivered at the International Fellowship, Madras, Feb. 22, 1941. Bombay: V.B. Karnik, n.d. [c. 1947].
- The Russian Revolution. Calcutta: Renaissance Publishers, 1949.
- India's Message. Calcutta: Renaissance Publishers, 1950.
- The Rhythm of Cosmos: Inaugural Address of the Second All-India Rationalist Conference at Tenali held on Feb. 9th and 10th, 1952. Tenali: n.p., n.d. [1952].
- Radical Humanism. New Delhi: n.p., 1952.
- Reason, Romanticism and Revolution. Calcutta: Renaissance Publishers, 1952.
- The Way Ahead in Asia. n.c.: British Information Service in Southeast Asia, n.d. [c. 1950s].
- Crime and Karma, Cats and Women. Calcutta: Renaissance Publishers, 1957.
- Memoirs. Bombay: Allied Publishers, 1964. —Reissued 1984.
Further reading
- R.K. Awasthi, Scientific Humanism: Socio-Political Ideas of M.N. Roy: A Critique. Delhi: Research Publications in Social Sciences, 1973.
- Shiri Ram Bakshi, M.N. Roy. New Delhi: Anmol Publications, 1994.
- G.P. Bhattacharjee, Evolution of Political Philosophy of M.N. Roy. Calcutta: Minerva Associates, 1971.
- M.N. Roy and Radical Humanism. Bombay: A.J.B.H. Wadia Publication, 1961.
- Phanibhusan Chakravartti, M.N. Roy. Calcutta: M.N. Roy Death Anniversary Observance Committee, 1961.
- Prakash Chandra, Political Philosophy of M.N. Roy. Meerut: Sarup & Sons, 1985.
- Satyabrata Rai Chowdhuri, Leftism in India, 1917-1947. Basingstoke, UK: Palgrave, 2007.
- Ramyansu Sekhar Das, M.N. Roy the Humanist Philosopher. Calcutta, W. Newman, 1956.
- B.N. Dasgupta, M.N. Roy: Quest for Freedom. Calcutta: Firma K.L. Mukhopadhyay, 1970.
- Niranjan Dhar, The Political Thought of M.N. Roy, 1936-1954. Calcutta, Eureka Publishers, 1966.
- S.M. Ganguly, Leftism in India: M.N. Roy and Indian Politics, 1920-1948. Columbia, MO: South Asia Books, 1984.
- Dharmadasa Goonawardhana and Debassaran Das Gupta (eds.), Royism Explained. Calcutta: Saraswaty Library, 1938.
- D.C. Grover, M. N. Roy: a Study of Revolution and Reason in Indian Politics. Calcutta: Minerva Associates, 1973.
- John Patrick Haithcox, Communism and Nationalism in India; M.N. Roy and Comintern Policy, 1920-1939. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1971.
- V.B. Karnik, M.N. Roy: Political Biography. Bombay: Nav Jagriti Samaj, 1978.
- Usha Krishna, M.N Roy and the Radical Humanist Movement in India: A Sociological Study. Meerut: Chaudhary Charan Singh University, 2005.
- Kris Manjapra, M.N. Roy: Marxism and Colonial Cosmopolitanism. Delhi: Routledge India, 2010.
- Innaiah Narisetti (ed.), M.N. Roy: Radical Humanist: Selected Writings. New York: Prometheus Books, 2004.
- R.L. Nigram, Radical Humanism of M.N. Roy An Exposition of his 22 Theses. n.c.: Indus Publishing Co., n.d.
- Robert C. North and Xenia J. Eudin, M.N. Roy's Mission to China: The Communist-Kuomintang Split of 1927. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1963.
- Vishnudeo Narain Ojha, M.N. Roy and His Philosophical Ideas. n.c. [Muzaffarpur]: Shankhnad Prakashan, 1969.
- Alok Pant, Indian Radicalism and M.N. Roy. Delhi: Adhyayan, 2005.
- Govardhan Dhanaraj Parikh (ed.), Essence of Royism: Anthology of M.N. Roy's Writings. Bombay: Nav Jagriti Samaj, 1987.
- Ramendra, M. N. Roy's New Humanism and Materialism. Patna: Buddhiwadi Foundation, 2001.
- Sibnarayan Ray, In Freedom's Quest: Life of M.N. Roy (Vol. 1: 1887-1922). Calcutta: Minerva, 1998.
- M.N. Roy: Philosopher-Revolutionary: A Symposium. Calcutta: Renaissance Publishers, 1959.
- Dipti Kumar Roy, Leftist Politics in India: M.N. Roy and the Radical Democratic Party. Calcutta: Minerva, 1989.
- Trade Union Movement in India: Role of M.N. Roy. Calcutta: Minerva, 1990.
- Samaren Roy, The Restless Brahmin: Early Life of M.N. Roy. Bombay: Allied Publishers, 1970.
- The Twice-Born Heretic: M.N. Roy and the Comintern. Calcutta: KLM Private, 1986.
- B.S. Sharma, The Political Philosophy of M.N. Roy. Delhi, National Publishing House, 1965.
- Sita Ram Sharma, Life and Works of M.N. Roy. Jaipur: Sublime Publications, 2010.
- M. Shiviah, New Humanism and Democratic Politics: A Study of M.N. Roy's Theory of the State. Bombay: Popular Prakashan, 1977.
- Reeta Sinha, Political Ideas of M.N. Roy. New Delh: National Book Organisation, 1991.
- Sada Nand Talwar, Political Ideas of M.N. Roy. Delhi: Khosla Publishing House, 1978.
- J.B.H. Wadia, M.N. Roy, The Man: An Incomplete Royana. Bombay: Popular Prakashan, 1983.
External links
- Manabendra Nath Roy Internet Archive, Marxists Internet Archive, www.marxists.org/
- "Manabendra Nath Roy," Banglapedia, www.banglapedia.org/
See also
- Hindu-German Conspiracy