Douglas Hyde

Who was Douglas Hyde?

Douglas Arnold Hyde was an English political journalist and writer. He was while a Communist 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. 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. 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. 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.