Thoughts of M N Roy On Radical Humanism and Democracy

International Journal of Trend in Scientific Research and Development (IJTSRD)
Volume 4 Issue 4, June 2020 Available Online: www.ijtsrd.com e-ISSN: 2456 – 6470
Thoughts of M N Roy on Radical Humanism and Democracy

Dr. K J SIBI
Assistant Professor in English, Shivprasad Sadanand Jaiswal College,
Arjuni-Morgaon, Gondia, Maharashtra, India
ABSTRACT How to cite this paper: Dr. K J SIBI

This research paper focuses on M N Roy's thoughts on his political philosophy, "Thoughts of M N Roy on Radical
Radical humanism, and democracy. Western political ideologies, capitalism, Humanism and Democracy" Published in
and socialism unfit to the Indian context. Therefore, there is necessary to think International Journal
of an alternative political system. Radical humanism has the potentiality to of Trend in Scientific
resolve the problems of capitalism and socialism. It is focused on man and his Research and
overall development without destroying his freedom as a citizen of the Development
country. It is rooted in the scientific understanding of man and nature. Radical (ijtsrd), ISSN: 2456-
humanism is an amalgamation of the principles of non-violent principles 6470, Volume-4 |
Gandhism and scientific and rational approach of Marxism. M N Roy's Radical Issue-4, June 2020, IJTSRD31128
humanism tries to find a final remedy to the real problems of the world. pp.640-642, URL:
Communism crushes human freedom and capitalism shapes based on www.ijtsrd.com/papers/ijtsrd31128.pdf
exploitation. Radical humanism stands on the concept of dignity, freedom,
fraternity, and equality. For producing equality, fraternity and liberty cannot Copyright © 2020 by author(s) and
sacrifice and equality has no value without fraternity or liberty. M N Roy's International Journal of Trend in Scientific
Radical humanism ensures the citizens access the three-liberty, equality, and Research and Development Journal. This
fraternity. is an Open Access article distributed
under the terms of
KEYWORDS: Radical humanism, democracy, freedom, morality, rationality, the Creative
equality, fraternity. Commons Attribution
License (CC BY 4.0)
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by
/4.0)
INTRODUCTION
M N Roy's radical humanism tries to place a human being in The experiment and experience in the life of M N Roy are a
the right perspective and proposes to develop the complete golden treasure before us. He was the founder of the
personality of all citizens in the country. Radical humanism Communist Party of India and the follower of western
has focused on man, society, and nation. India is very anxious political philosophy, Marxism in India. When Marxism
to know why these renowned systems of the world, such as entered in our country, Mahatma Gandhi had formulated his
the capitalist system and communist system continuously philosophy, Gandhism. Modern political thought in India has
fail in the practical sense. Humanity has experimented and largely influenced by the interaction of diverse political
experienced communist ideology and capitalist ideology. ideas. M N Roy's political philosophy, Radical Humanism can
India has a glorious tradition of culture and philosophy. study as an amalgamation of moral, non-violent, and
Western ideologies are unfit to the Indian context. Problems, truthfulness of Gandhism and scientific and rational
which we face today, are the result of blind following of approach of Marxism. Roy's Radical Humanism founded on
western ideologies in our country. Our country needs an the materialistic and spiritual point of view. His materialism
alternative to these failed systems of the world. has based on scientific temper. His spiritualism does not
have any relation to religion. According to M N Roy, the
Radical humanism has rooted in the scientific understanding rationality of man comes from reason in nature, and man's
of human beings. Every country has its own historical, socio- moral sense derives from his rationality. M N Roy
economic situation; remedies imported from other parts of emphatically rejects religious supernaturalism.
the world cannot fit the Indian situation. It is illogical that
the successful implementation of one ideology can work in In the later period of his life after a close study of the
another country. For example, the basic organic activity is practical failure of Marxism all over the world, he had lost his
the same in all human beings of the world. The medicines are faith in Marxism. Roy's radical humanism is an attempt to
helpful to cure the disease of the persons in England. The find a final remedy to the real problems of the world. When
same medicine cannot work in the persons of our country. the influence of Marxism was declining, all over the world
Diseases normally depend upon the climate, water, and indicate that M N Roy was a forerunner and great visionary
dietary habit and hereditary. External symptoms may be of the world. The failure of communism in Russia now has
similar but the same medicine cannot cure all persons in the convinced us that the ultimate cause of problems cannot
world. We adopt illogical and impractical ideologies in our trace to the economic factor only. The ultimate key to man's
country and crying for a permanent remedy. We are always progress is his urge for freedom and reason. Man's
looking in the west for the remedy. We are in such a rationality and urge for freedom are the basic features of
situation that we sit on the golden treasure and we always human nature. These urges have normally not seen at the
look outside for developing the nation. conscious level of many people. M N Roy categorically said
@ IJTSRD | Unique Paper ID – IJTSRD31128 | Volume – 4 | Issue – 4 | May-June 2020 Page 640
International Journal of Trend in Scientific Research and Development (IJTSRD) @ www.ijtsrd.com eISSN: 2456-6470
that these urges for freedom are the most basic human urge. essentially rational. The reason in man is a reflection of the
Communism crushes the basic urge of the human being. harmony of the universe. Man is moral because he is
rational. When rationality is developing, morality grows in
Owing to this reason, M N Roy had started to re-examine the man. According to Roy, "The social struggle for human
communist theories even though he had earlier accepted progress, the entire process of human evolution is nothing
communism as his philosophy. He witnessed that the way but the continuation of the struggle for existence on a higher
communism had established in Russia, he could not agree level, where that struggle is no longer guided by instinct and
with them. He found that it was a regime of tyranny and natural selection but by intelligence, choice, and reasoning."
slavery. Stalin had entirely discarded the moral leadership of (M N Roy, Science and Philosophy, p.23) In the past, it was
the progressive forces in Russia. He did not blame any leader impossible to understand the relationship between nature
for the misdirection of the communism. He tried to find out and man but now modern science resolved this difficulty.
the root cause of the communist philosophy from which Therefore, understanding radical humanism can go to the
Stalin and his fellow leaders operate their actions. Lastly, he root cause of every problem and resolve them scientifically.
found communism's negligence of man as an individual.
"Man had been reduced to the position of a helpless pawn in Therefore, M N Roy has formulated a new scientific
the hands of blind economic forces and an insignificant unit humanism in his last stage of life after scientific analysis of
in the broad collectivity of a class. He was denied human nature. Man is selfish and self-centered as well as
independence as well as sovereignty." (V B Karnik, M N Roy, social and cooperative at the same time. M N Roy had
85) He understood that neither capitalism nor communism considered the dual nature of man very seriously. All social
could find any solution to settle the problems of the man. and economic problems can solve through mutual co-
operation. The recognition of this mutual sustenance and
M N Roy had long experience in Europe and witnessed cooperation is the core point of Roy's philosophy. Mutual
defects of parliamentary democracy in the political and sustenance and cooperation is the basic characteristic of
economic fields. Communism advocated a dictatorship of the modern civilization. For building modern civilized India,
proletariat and centralized planning as a remedy to solve the India needs to spread the humanistic ideology of M N Roy.
defects of parliamentary democracy in Europe. Communism His political philosophy has a humanistic approach to solve
made man as a slave to the state under the dictatorship of the problems of human beings. Indian Constitution assures
the party leader. Instead of the dictatorship of the the sovereign right to the citizens of our country, but our
proletariat, Russia had undergone through the dictatorship democracy has somewhere failed to keep a humanistic
of Stalin. Therefore, he contemplated to look beyond approach in its practical sense. India can do miraculous
communism and formulated a school of thought, which results through a better understanding of the Radical
would guarantee the freedom and complete development of Humanism. The public can access Social Justice and
man under political and economic institutions. M N Roy Economic Justice through the humanistic approach without
proposed the organized democracy and co-operative violence. The radical humanism and democracy should
economy as a solution to the crisis. For this purpose, there integrate into the mainstream of our national life.
should be a philosophical foundation for both organized
democracy and co-operative economy. His newly formed Radical humanism is the connecting thread to resolve the
philosophy, Radical humanism can lay a foundation for problems amicably. M N Roy's philosophy stands on the
organizing democracy and co-operative economy. concept of dignity, freedom, and human values. The
individual development is preferred to society and
The freedom of man has the most important value in radical individuals can enjoy the freedom in society. Therefore,
humanism. All human values are derived from this radical humanism can save our radical democracy and basic
fundamental value. M N Roy defined the concept of freedom: principles of liberty, fraternity, equality, and justice in our
The function of life is to live. The basic incentive of organic constitution. The future of democracy is depending upon the
becoming is the struggle for survival. It goes on throughout qualitative and quantitative human development and its
the long process of biological evolution until in man it management. There is a need to expand and spread the
becomes the conscious urge for freedom-the supreme political philosophy, radical Humanism.
human value. The beginning of man's endless struggle for
freedom lies in the animal struggle for survival. Everything In the final stage of M N Roy's life, he was against the
that man has done every one of his acts, cultural progress, partycracy and the hollowness of our democratic practice
scientific achievements, artistic creation-everything has been without providing social and economic justice to all. M N
motivated by that one urge. Man is finite, while the universe Roy's contribution to the Indian political scene has been
is infinite, and his environment, in the last analysis, is the either underscored or neglected. In reality, his ideas and vast
whole universe. Consequently, his struggle for freedom is experience all over the world as a political thinker and
eternal; he can never conquer the universe. Therefore, the revolutionary and successful participation in many
urge for freedom is the only eternal thing in the human revolutions of the world but he failed in his motherland. His
world. This urge enables man to acquire knowledge; he dreams of developing a strong, prosperous, civilized,
conquers his environment by knowing. (M N Roy, New rational, secular, and humanistic democracy remained an
Orientation, p.23) unfulfilled dream.
As a philosophy, radical humanism covers the complete His writings in English have immense relevance and value
activity and existence of man from his abstract thought to today in the present national scenario. Through his
social and political reconstruction. According to this intellectual analysis, he discovered the deficiencies and
philosophy, the universe is a law-governed system and man inadequacies in the system and predicted the dangers of
is an integral part of the physical universe. Therefore, man is practicing party-based politics. The present scenario of
International Journal of Trend in Scientific Research and Development (IJTSRD) @ www.ijtsrd.com eISSN: 2456-6470
socio-economic life in India is underlined the fears of M N the fraternity and liberty of others. Equality has no value
Roy. Therefore, the thought of M N Roy can save our country without fraternity or liberty. Radical Humanism can enable
from the problems of the whirlpool. Radical Humanism must the citizens of our country to access the three without
spread into the vein of every nook and corner of the country hurting each other. No system of the world has until this date
and every political worker, and then only the disillusioned brought all the three. However, in M N Roy's political
conditions of dirty party politics in India shall be purified. philosophy, Radical humanism can solve this conundrum
Radical Humanism can lead the nation towards the path of and achieve all three-Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity.
truth and sustenance of development.
References
CONCLUSION [1] Roy, M N. New Orientation, Calcutta: Renaissance
For the disease in each place in the nation, remedy suitable Publishers, 1946. Print.
to that place must be sought. Many remedies have found, but
[2] Roy, M N. Science and Philosophy, Calcutta: Renaissance
they are not functioning because the remedies are not from
Publishers, 1947. Print.
within. Democracy grants individual liberty, but that
democracy is used by the capitalist system for the [3] Roy, Samaren. The Restless Brahmin, Bombay: Allied
exploitation of the masses and monopoly on people. Publishers, 1970. Print.
Socialism was brought in to end exploitation, but it
[4] Karnik, V B. M N Roy, New Delhi: National Book Trust,
destroyed the freedom, dignity, and individuality. We have
2005. Print.
adopted the slogans of Fraternity, Liberty, and Equality in
our Constitution. For producing equality, we cannot sacrifice

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International Journal of Trend in Scientific Research and Development (IJTSRD)

Thoughts of M N Roy on Radical Humanism and Democracy

ABSTRACT How to cite this paper: Dr. K J SIBI

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