The Twice-Born Heretic M. N. Roy and Comintern (An Old and Rare Book)

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This biographic study of M. N. Roy covers the period of his life from 1916 to 1930, the first being the year when he arrived in America as a political fugitive and the second when he returned to India after fifteen years of active political life abroad, and is a sequel to my earlier publication, The Restless Brahmin: The Early Life of M. N. Roy (1970).

A biography of M. N. Roy dealing with this period can- not just be a chronicle of events, or a story of his activities in diverse countries or a vindication of policies he had advocated at different times. Ideas-his, of those he clashed with, and of the Age-have a significance which have to be accorded pro- per recognition.

Ideas and events are intertwined., The events of Roy's life or in other words, his behaviour the manner in which he acted or reacted to developments, were to a great extent deter- mined by the ideas he held at the time of a particular decision taken by him. He was not a successful man; if he had acted differently from his ideas he would have been an opportunist; if he had refused to revise his opinions he would have been obstinate and unrealistic.

When I wrote The Restless Brahmin dealing with the first 28 years of his life the subject of the biography was a roman- tic revolutionary. In this volume I have tried to analyse the development of his personality as a Marxist thinker when he also became a controversial person. The task has not been easy.

The myth of his prescience survives. It is a Marxist myth arising out of historical determinism, Roy himself had to struggle against it. Because Roy's understanding of Marxism was highly individual, though rigorously logical. In theoretical Marxism he clashed with Lenin, and differed from all those before him, in regard to the sequence of revolution.

M. N. Roy had jointed the militant nationalist group of Indian freedom fighters at an early age, and later carried on a Jone search for radical solution to problems of humanity. Having been involved in revolutionary action in Mexico, Russia and China, he returned to the land of his birth and sought to change tactics of revolution and to revolutionise Indian society. The author of this volume has already established himself as a meticulous student on the life, times and thought of M. Ν. Roy. His previous publication, The Restless Brahmin: The Early Life of M. N. Roy (1970) is an essential reading for students of the history of Indian freedom movement.

The present volume stands high on another account. Those who are interested in the zig-zag of the theory and practice of Marxism and its significance as a humanist philosophy will find in the analysis and discussions in the book food for serious thought.

Samaren Roy has known M. N. Roy (no kin) at close quarters. He has moreover collected and analysed materials of relevance from many parts of the world by travelling on his own and interviewing people.

As a friend and admirer of M. N. Roy, with whom I have had the privilege of working closely for a number of years, I consider the present study and analysis of Roy vis-a-vis Communist International and the philosophy and practice of Marxism an important contribution to Marxist political history.