I Believed: The Autobiography of a Former British Communist by Douglas Hyde (HQ289)

Published 1952: Hardcover / Very Good Condition / Illustrated throughout

Original red cloth with gilt block titles on the spine and original pictorial dust jacket. 285 very clean and bright pages, mild speckled edges, previous owners signature on the first free page. Boards slightly rubbed with time. The dust jacket is slightly rubbed and faded with time and chipped along the edges consistent with age but remains intact. (HQ289)

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Douglas Arnold Hyde (1911- 1996, was an English political journalist and writer. A communist, he was the news editor of the Daily Worker until 1948, when he resigned and converted to Catholicism. He gained an international reputation in the late 1940s and 1950s as a prominent and outspoken critic of communism. In 1950, he published an autobiography, I Believed: The Autobiography of a Former British Communist, detailing his political and religious journey . The book became a huge bestseller, selling over 10 million copies in all editions in th first 10 years. He became disillusioned with Catholoicism in the late 1960's , and later left the church, and prevented reprints of the book.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 18 March 2021
Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase
This is obviously an old book, out of print, but the story should be read today in the context of an ever growing totalitarian mindset. Here in Douglas Hyde’s story of his life inside the British Communist Party of the first half of the twentieth century we are brought face to face with its essential ruthlessness and ultimately, its lack of humanity. This mindset is key to understanding all the left, not just the Stalinist left. At a time when democracy and freedom of speech is under threat, Douglas Hyde’s honest and revealing appraisal reminds us of the dangers of ideology, the dangers we are facing today. It is well worth reading.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Believed-Autobiography-Former-British-Communist/dp/B0006DA790