Douglas Hyde (author)

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 an English political journalist and writer. A Communist, he 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 organisations 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. He was an early convert to Communism, at age 17 in 1928. He was once jailed for two years in south-east Asia while trying to agitate for Communist reforms. After a period working in North Wales he moved to London in 1938 and became the news editor of the Daily Worker. After his resignation, he published an autobiography, I Believed. The Autobiography of a Former British Communist. 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. On his death he had allegedly become an agnostic, having had difficulties pursuing social justice and economic equality issues within the Catholic Church.

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.