Dedication And Leadership: Philosophy (Paperback)

~ Douglas Hyde (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

On March 14, 1948, Douglas Hyde handed in his resignation as the news editor of the London Daily Worker and wrote "the end" to twenty years of his life as a member of the Communist Party. A week later, in a written statement, Hyde announced that he had renounced Communism and, with his wife and children, was joining the Catholic Church.

The long pilgrimage from Communism to Christ carried Douglas Hyde from complete commitment to Marxism, to a questioning uneasiness about Soviet Russia’s glaring contradictions of ideology and action, to a final rejection of the Party.

In Dedication and Leadership, he advances the theory that although the goals and aims of Communism are antithetical to human dignity and the rights of the individual, there is much to be learned from communist methods, cadres and psychological motivation. Hyde describes the Communist mechanics of instilling dedication, the first prerequisite for leadership. Here is the complete rationale of party technique: how to stimulate the willingness to sacrifice; the advisibility of making big demands to insure a big response; the inspirational indoctrination; and the subtle conversion methods.

In this small book, so large with implications, Douglas Hyde comments on both Communist and Catholic potential and their lack of maximum effectiveness. He advocates positive Catholic action, not just a negative anti-Communism, and he points out that the guidelines are now down for a decisive choice between total Communism and a total Christianity.

Here is a realistic approach to an acute problem uncolored by emotional propaganda, and here is a realistic answer on how to inspire dedication for leadership.

Product Details

• Paperback: 158 pages
• Publisher: University of Notre Dame Press; 10th edition (December 31, 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0268000735
• ISBN-13: 978-0268000738
• Product Dimensions: 7.6 x 5.2 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #87,119 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars High marks from someone who led a study in this book, December 15, 1999

By	Ian Drummond "Ian Drummond" (Beverly, MA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

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.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars You Will Need Multiple Copies of this Book, November 15, 2003

By	Robert Huffstedtler (Cary, NC United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Amazon Verified Purchase

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.

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the 25 most important conservative books, August 5, 2000

By A Customer

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.