Claude Roy

Claude Roy (28 August 1915 – 13 December 1997) was a French poet and essayist. He was born and died in Paris.

After the fall of France during World War II, Roy was captured as a prisoner of war. He later escaped and joined the French resistance. Initially associated with the political right, by 1943 Roy drifted towards the left under the influence of Louis Aragon and adhered to the French Communist Party, openly attacking fascism and Vichy sympathizers. He left the Communist Party after the suppression of the Hungarian Revolution of 1956 and, as a contributor to Le Nouvel Observateur, became a fixture on the anti-totalitarian left. He was a signatory to the Manifesto of the 121 in favor of Algerian independence.