Customer Reviews

Dedication And Leadership

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In the first three quarters of the twentieth century, communism moved from a minority political movement in a few European countries to become a major political force with over a third of the world's population under its sway and signficant intellectual influence even in the countries that remained most opposed to it. Douglas Hyde was one of those who diligently to further its influence. In 1948, he surprised his friends and enemies alike by resigning his position as editor of the London based communist paper the Daily Worker and converting to Roman Catholicism with his family.

This book grew out of a series of lectures he conducted that tried to explain the successes of Communism to a Christian audience and to answer the question "Is there anything in Communist methods that can be adapted to serve nobler causes?". The answer to that question is an emphatic yes. Hyde strips away the preconceptions of how Communists recruited and motivated party workers and how they developed them into leaders capable of developing other communist workers.

The main theme of the book is contained in the title. According to Hyde, dedication is a prerequisite for true leadership. The communists had a well defined purpose that every communist could understand and believe in: the hope of a Communist world. In pursuit of that goal, members were asked to make great sacrifices. Rather than driving people away, this demand draws out the idealistic element in them and inspires the sort of dedication needed.

Hyde develops this theme in a number of ways. He discusses how short term campaigns worked, how party education worked, how members were encouraged to excellence in other areas of their life in order to give the communist message credibility with non-Communists.

Looking at the state of communism today, one might question whether there is any value in this book after all. Indeed, Hyde faced the same question himself in the late 80s and refused a reprint of the book because he thought that communist commitment was no longer what was described in the book. In my opinion, the failure of communism was due to its successes proving its invalidity, not to the methods by which it had enjoyed those earlier successes. Militant Islam seems to be the ascendant ideology of our times, and to the limited degree that I am aware, it seems like the Islamists are employing similar techniques. If we are wise, we will choose to learn from them rather than dismissing them outright.

This is one of those rare books that demands the purchasing of multiple copies. You will want to keep one for yourself with all your underlinings and notes, and keep at least one to lend out. Any sort of organisation could benefit from the lessons to be learned here, but Hyde's message is chiefly to Christians. Any believer distressed about the weak impact his church is having should immediately read this book.

I led a men's group and we studied this book throughout the semester, one chapter at a time. It was a very good choice, as it turned out, because it forced us as Christians to examine our own lives in light of what Mr. Hyde had to say about the value of various techniques.

The other reviews here are quite accurate: the book clearly demonstrates how effective Communists are at bringing in new recruits and immediately putting them to work. The value in this is that they begin to identify themselves with the movement and ask questions. Then come the study groups, which are responding to a felt need on the part of the participants.

Reading this book convicted me of my behavior and the behavior I call others to. Look at Jesus' response to people who came up and asked him if they could join him. He didn't say "Great! Bring all your stuff to be comfortable and have a great time!" He said "Drop everything in your life and follow me alone. I will ask everything of you." He wouldn't even allow someone to go to his father's funeral ("Let the dead bury their own dead.")

What is our response as Christians to new believers? So often we want to make things as easy as possible. Don't challenge them too much or they might get discouraged and fall away. Mr. Hyde gives the opposite answer: ask a great deal of new believers and you will see great fruit. Ask a little, and you deserve what you get.

The best book on leadership I've read. Douglas Hyde, a british ex-communist leader, exposes the methodological success of Communism. He doesn't delve into Communism's ideological fallacies (although alluded to). He rather lays out communistic functions that led to it's incredible growth in such a short period of time. Throughout the book he comments on both Communist and Chritian potentials that culminates in the choice between total Communism or total Christianity. One of the most intriguing chapters is "The Story of Jim." Hyde told those in a Communist leader seminar that the Communist party could take anyone willing to be trained in leadership and make a leader. Hyde describes Jim as, 'very short, grotesquely fat, with a flabby white face, a cast in one eye and, to make matters worse, a most destressing stutter.' You'll need to read the book to see what became of Jim.

For many years Hyde was a leader of the Communist Party in Great Britain. In 1948, the Communist stalwart shocked all Britain by resigning as editor of the daily paper of the British Communist Party and leaving the Party.

        He became a Christian and wrote Dedication and Leadership as a guide to political skills for anti-communists, particularly Christians. After reading it, you will understand why communism endured for so long. Much of its success, Hyde shows, was due to its use of philosophically neutral techniques of communication, recruitment, training and organization.

This is truly a fascinating book. In it, Mr. Hyde takes us into the inner working of the Communist Party in which he was a member for more than twenty years. With utter clarity, he shows us that the dedication of the average communist worker was not the result of brain washing, but was the result of exceptional leadership. Throughout this excellent book Hyde contrasts the weak and anemic leadership styles of the church with its corresponding weak following, to the strong leadership of the Communist Party and their dedicated following.

I was especially impressed by the first part of the book where Hyde takes the reader step by step though the process by which a young communist recruit is trained to be a leader of men. High expectations (you are joining an elite organization) and high purpose (you are going to make a difference in the lives of men) combine to get to form the foundation of dedication. The only apparent weakness of the book is it's "Britishness." The Brits do write in a style that is difficult for their American cousins to follow.

This book is transformational. Everything I have learned about leadership dove tails right into what Hyde is saying: The need for public witness, ministry before training, life application teaching, strict accountability, high expectations, beginning with felt needs, a commitment o excellence, are all themes common to great leadership.

"Dedication and Leadership" began as Douglas Hyde's attempt to answer the question: "Why are Communists so dedicated and successful as leaders whilst others so often are not?" As a former Communist editor who converted to Roman Catholicism, Hyde was well qualified to answer this question. His findings form an inspiring challenge to Christians to find the courage and dedication of the early Communists and use them in the service of something much better than Communism. He answers the question, "What can we learn from the Communist's attitudes, methods and techniques"?

His answers are revelatory. In the first place, Communism appealed to the idealism of youth: if you wanted to change the world in the first half of the twentieth century you turned to the Communists, not to the Christians. Second, if you make little demands then you get little response, but if you call for big sacrifices people will respond. Also, in a materialistic world, the dedicated mans stands out. One of Hyde's shrewdest observations is that most Communists don't become Communists because of the doctrine but because of the impact made upon them by some dedicated Communist. Communism showed a remarkable faith in people with their slogan "Every Communist a leader." Communists followed through with their call for sacrifice and leadership through preparation, training, and instruction. By sending its members out as soon as they joined, Communists forced their members to learn about their own inadequacy, which is the beginning of wisdom. As a result, the desire to learn came from within each Communist.

There is much more that Hyde has to say, but I'm sure you can see how powerful and useful this little book is. Essentially, it's a book of wisdom and one that I find myself returning to every few years when I start a new venture on behalf of the Kingdom of God.

Highly recommended for all - even young people!

This is an interesting book that shows the potential in the recruiting and training tactics of the communist party. It shows how leaders, particularly Christian leaders, expect too little from their members and get what they expect. The principles in this book match those taught in college courses on education: to set the bar high and people will live up to what you expect; if you expect little, you will get little.

My purchase came in a very reasonable time frame. It was in outstanding condition and I was able to give it as a gift. I would eagerly do business with this company in the future.

I recommend this to anyone who teaches or desires to do so... a point that Mr. Hyde does not make directly but I think is critical for anyone consider the techniques and methods is not only is communist pedagogy exceptionally good, but their content is accurate and reliable. We all make a mistake when we fail to realize that Marxists get their facts straight. Hyde says as much when he lays out how the communists stayed close to their audience, and how they strove to excel in their field. Communists as a technique also stand and deliver, which tends to result in accuracy. It is when communists take the facts to the analysis level, dialectical materialism, and the inevitable violence, that their system fails.

Nonetheless, there are excellent works written by Marxists on many topics which one ought not ignore merely for the authors orientation. Hyde notes in capitalism the ruling elite profits by war (page 58), and goes on to note the communists make no bones about governments being in the business of oppression, and so are communist governments, but in the case of communism for a good cause. Accuracy in facts, but fallacy in analysis.

if you want to be an excellent teacher, learn from the Marxists! If you want accurate information read the Marxists. If you want to suffer pointlessly, become a Marxist!

This book calls out all the 'seeker friendly' evangelicals and shows up the flaws of the dying secularist churches. It provides clear reasons why, a priori, traditionalist catholics and serious (left or right) churches would expect success rather than failure in their dogmatism. To be open to anyone joining, but to have high expectations of each member, will not necessarily lead to a big crowd quickly (to borrow Warren's terminology - community, crowd, congregation, core) but will grow the core most effectively. In the end, the crowd is mostly dead-weight and drag, not in, not out, not really interested in contributing. It is the core that is self-replicating, the congregation that is self-sustaining. Hyde shows how even the Communists understood about inspiring new members to become core members - and how the Catholics of his time were making a hash of it, unlike their forefathers.

The lessons are really important for any group that needs to grow and produce, not just consume, regardless of ideology - that to appeal to anyone, you have to avoid trying to appeal to just anyone. Demand big things, get big things... demand little things, get nothing.