Subodh Roy was born in 1915 to a rich family at Chittagong in erstwhile-undivided Bengal.

At the age of 14, he was the youngest participant in the Chittagong armoury raid in 1930-31 under the direction of the revolutionary leader Surya Sen (Masterda).

After the independence of India, he shifted to Calcutta and joined as a whole timer at the Provincial Centre of the Party.

[2] Subodh Roy made major scholarly contributions to the history of the communist movement.

After conducting research in the National Archives, he edited a book titled "Communism in India: Unpublished Documents".