Dedication And Leadership

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 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!

I have been reading and using this book for many years. Finally it is available through Kindle.This book is a little expensive, but is a great treatise on what made Communism work on the grass roots level. They essentially used a modified form of Biblical discipleship which should shame the present day church as it tries to reach the masses with marketing techniques. I would recommend that before this book, "The Master Plan of Evangelism" by Robert Coleman should be read. Together these books have helped me to understand and apply Biblical discipleship with confidence.

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.

This book is fascinating. It shows step by step how to create a team of leaders passionately dedicated to the Big Cause. In this case, all the examples are from Communism. The author was a long time communist party activist, an editor of The Daily Worker. When he became a Catholic, he was frustrated by the ineptitude of the Church in training people.Many valuable lessons here, from the 1960's!

Great insight into why and the how of communism growth, yes he does indeed reference Catholicism quite a bit and not to harsh on either side. For a book that is in its 13th printing that tells you it has quite a bit of merits. My copy is not resell-able as pencil marked a good 20 pages for reference.

Mr. Hyde does a great job of laying out what the communist did right in a wrong way. He shows in this book that many of the methods that the communist used to develop leaders are not only good but in some cases best. There are many applications that can be made with this book. I would encourage anybody reading this book to have the bible next to them and write out verses that come to mind as they read along.

Simple book, but good condition for the price. Shipping time was not bad at all. Would purchase again!

Douglas Hyde, former editor of the London Communist pare "Daily Worker", converted to Catholicism in the early 50's. This book is the result of a lecturing tour given to Catholic hierarchy and activists. It show what are the points Catholic could imitate to have a greater impact on society.