Paper short abstract:

The paper examines what the impact of the Meerut Conspiracy Case was for the Comintern's challenge to British India in the interwar period.

Paper long abstract:

The paper examines the impact of the Meerut Conspiracy Case on the Communist International's (Comintern) challenge to British India. Considered is the use of the Indian Penal Code to attempt to prove a conspiracy that involved agents of an external power in the form of the Soviet Union, the way in which the Comintern, its member parties, particularly the Communist Party of India (CPI) and the Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB), and its agents reacted to the trial, and the impact on Soviet foreign policy. That the case coincided with shifts in the Comintern's line and the foreign policy of the Soviet Union is significant, and the impact of the case is considered in this context.