In this episode, Pranay and I look back at the debate that took place at the Communist International in 1920 between Lenin and Indian Communist M.N. Roy on the national and colonial question. At its heart, the debate sought to figure out what form the struggle for national liberation could take in the colonies as part of a world revolution, and especially, what role the indigenous bourgeoisie would play in this national liberation struggle.

In the first half of the episode, we go through Lenin’s and M.N. Roy’s positions on the national question, we look at where there are overlaps, and where there are differences. In the second half of the episode, we fast forward just over a century and explore the resonances of this debate in our current moment, specifically as they relate to China and Palestine.

Pranay Somayajula is an Indian-American writer, researcher, and political educator whose work focuses on the structures of global imperialism, as well as questions of decolonization, internationalism, and anti-imperialist resistance—both historically and in the present day. He is a PhD student in Political Science at the University of Minnesota, specializing in political theory and international relations from a Third World Marxist perspective, and is the host of the podcast Return to Bandung. Pranay’s writing has appeared in numerous outlets including Protean, Jacobin, and Monthly Review, as well as on his Substack blog, culture shock.