M.N. Roy and the Mexican Revolution: How a Militant Indian Nationalist Became an International Communist

Abstract

ABSTRACTThis essay examines the Indian anti-colonial and Leftist activist M.N. Roy's political work in Mexico from 1918 to 1920. It argues that Roy's sojourn in revolutionary Mexico—and in particular the friendships he made there with Leftist intellectuals, some Mexican, many newcomers to Mexico—played an important role in shaping his political trajectory. Not only did Roy become a communist in Mexico, but he and his colleagues, concerned with the ‘universal’ struggle of the working class, dismissed ideas about national identity brewing during the Mexican Revolution and its aftermath. Roy's distaste for national pride also defined his later political work in India.