Plans For Visit Of Douglas Hyde

Press, Volume C, Issue 29525, 29 May 1961, Page 13

Plans For Visit Of Douglas Hyde

Further information about the noted former Communist turned Roman Catholic, Mr Douglas Hyde, who will visit Christchurch later this week, has been supplied by the Roman Catholic Bishop of Christchurch (the Most. Rev. E. M. Joyce).

Mr Hyde will arrive in the city on Thursday from Australia and will leave on Saturday to continue his tour of New Zealand. He has just completed a lecture tour of New South Wales and Victoria.

In New Zealand Mr Hyde’s visit is sponsored by Catholic Men’s Luncheon Clubs in the four centres. Most famous for his autobiography. “I Believed.” Mr Hyde has given four reasons for writing this book—to help people understand why communism has been able to attack and hold so many wellintentioned men and women; to get inside the mind of the Communist, so as to show how he thought and felt: by describing the workings of party policy and discipline from within; to give a clear picture of the aims and methods of communism in the world today; and to show what it had that ultimately

destroyed his own Marxist faith and brought him back to Christianity. Other books and studies published by Mr Hyde include. “The Answer to Communism.” “One Front Across the World," and “The Battle of our Time.” Since leaving the Communist party he has travelled ex. tensively. Most recently he has made a tour of Central Africa including the Congo during the recent crisis. Mr Hyde has first-hand knowledge of the Asian sphere, having attended S.E.A.T.O. seminars, made a special study of jungle warfare in South-east Asia and having met and talked with many Communists who led rebellions in the various countries.

He has also recently visited South America, the United States. Canada and most of free Europe. Since abandoning communism he has been occupied as a f-ee-lance journalist. Mr Hyde made his decision to withdraw from the British Communist Party in 1948 because of dissatisfaction and disillusionment with its policies. J