- Douglas Hyde (author)
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For the author and Irish President of the same name, see Douglas Hyde.
Douglas Arnold Hyde (8 April 1911, Worthing, Sussex — 19 September 1996, Kingston upon Thames) was a Communist who was the news editor of the Daily Worker until 1948, when he converted to Catholicism and resigned.
Hyde grew up in Bristol and was brought up as a Methodist. In his youth he was active in a number of political organizations which brought him into contact with Communists. He became a Methodist lay preacher and continued this work for some time in parallel with membership of the Communist party.[1] He was an early convert to Communism, at age 17 in 1928. He was once jailed for two years in southeast Asia while trying to agitate for Communist reforms. After a period working in North Wales he moved to London in 1938.[2] He was the news editor of the Daily Worker, the largest Communist publication in Britain. After his resignation, he published an autobiography, I Believed. The Autobiography of a Former British Communist.[3] He also wrote a book, Dedication and Leadership, about his experiences and the specific tactics of the Communists especially in the way that they recruited their members and built them into leaders.[4] On his death he had allegedly become an agnostic, having had difficulties pursuing social justice and economic equality issues within the Catholic Church.[3]
Works
- I Believed: The Autobiography of a Former British Communist, William Heinemann, London, Melbourne, Toronto, 1950. German translation Anders als ich glaubte, Herder, Freiburg, 1957 (=Herder-Bücherei, No. 1).
- The Answer to Communism, Paternoster Publications, London, 1949.
- Communism from the Inside, Catholic Truth Society, London, 1949.
- Communism and the Home, Catholic Truth Society, London, 1950.
- God's Bandit: The Story of Don Orione, "Father of the Poor", Peter Davies, London, 1952. Italian (1955), French (1956), German (1957) and Polish (1980) translations.
- Communism at Work, Catholic Truth Society, London, 1953.
- Red Star Versus the Cross: The Pattern of Persecution (with Francis Dufay), Paternoster Publications, London, 1954
- One Front across the World, William Heinemann, London. 1955; Newman Press, Westminster, Maryland, 1956.
- The Mind behind New China, Phoenix House, London, 1956.
- Dedication and Leadership, University of Notre Dame Press, 1956. There is a 1992 edition.
- The Peaceful Assault: The Pattern of Subversion. A Background Book, The Bodley Head, London, 1963.
- The Roots of Guerilla Warfare. A Background Book, The Bodley Head, London, 1965.
- Confrontation in the East. A Background Book, The Bodley Head, London, 1965.
- The Troubled Continent: A New Look at Latin America, Pflaum Press, Dayton, Ohio, 1967.
- Communism Today, Gill and Macmillan, Dublin, 1972; University of Notre Dame Press, 1973.
Footnotes
- ^ Hyde I Believed; chapters 1-4
- ^ Hyde I Believed; chapters 5-7
- ^ a b Kevin Morgan. "Obituary: Douglas Hyde", The Independent, London, 29 September 1996
- ^ Gary North. "Mother Teresa: The Efficiency of Self-Sacrifice", LewRockwell.com
Categories:- 1911 births
- 1996 deaths
- British people imprisoned abroad
- Converts to Roman Catholicism from atheism or agnosticism
- English anti-communists
- English communists
- English political writers
- English Roman Catholics
- Former communists
- People from Worthing
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