Manabendra Nath Roy’s political thought highlighted the humanistic aspects of Marxism. Discuss. 15 Marks (UPSC CSE Mains 2024- Political Science and International Relations, Paper 1)
- The radical or new humanism of M. N. Roy is the reflection of Marxist revolution against capitalism. Roy senses morality even in communist movement., He had a high regard to Marx as he considered Marx as a great humanist. In fact, Marx attributed his forerunners as utopians and thereby claimed to have made himself a science of socialism. According to Roy, Marxist socialist society was not to be created by men; rather it was the outcome of the forces of production of historical developments. As a matter of fact, it gives birth to the socialist new order in the form of new humanism.
- According to Roy, Marx was not a dry-hearted mathematical prophet as many thinkers thought of; rather he was a passionate humanist. Not only that, Marx as a firm believer of socialist revolution was equally treated as a romanticist. As a great humanist and romanticist, Marx had exerted his faith in the creativeness of man which actually brought about revolutions. As a humanist, Marx believes that the real force of his revolution actually hinges on moral appeal. According to Roy, Marx was not a revolutionist, humanist and romanticist; he was an ardent hunter of truth and intellectual honesty.
- According to Roy, Marxist humanism is called radical because it is based on moral appeal. Here, Marx as a humanist stood for the freedom of the individual. In fact, Marx talked of socialism as the ''kingdom of freedom'' where man will be regarded as the master of social environments. In new humanism which will work under socialism, human reason will overcome irrational forces. As a rational being, here man will be in charge of his own destiny. Thus, the moralist spirit of Marxism will go into the making of the new faith of our time. In this regard, Roy conceives Marxist humanism as the model of the builders of the future human life based on human legacy.
- According to Roy, Marx was influenced by Hegel''s moral nihilism which states that there is no moral standard apart from rationality. For Hegel what is rational is good and vice-versa. In this regard, there is no difference between Hegel and Marx. Roy, in this regard, says, "Hegel said: What is rational and therefore good: Marx added: The future, as I visualise it, will result inevitable from the present; ego, it will also be rational and good. In other words, if to-day might is right, it must be so to-morrow as wel1."According to Roy, the new humanism of Marxism runs with the basic principle: whatever is, is good. Everything done for the defence of the new order is moral and it is simplistically stated as ''might is right''.
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