Suzanne Labin

Suzanne Labin (6 May 1913 – 22 January 2001) was a French Socialist writer and political scientist, known particularly for her anti-communism, anti-totalitarianism and pro-democracy writings.

In reviewing of her book The secret of democracy, Time magazine wrote:

"Suzanne Labin writes with a hatpin. This young (thirtyish) French political scientist impales totalitarian myths and neutralist delusions, prods lukewarm intellectuals who rarely rise to the defense of democracy, or if they do, praise it with faint damns. Author Labin has small use for so-called thinkers who don the smoked glasses of a spurious objectivity and report that they can see no difference between Western freedom and Eastern tyranny except 'shades of grey.' She believes that it is worth restating the great central truth, or 'secret,' of democracy, i.e., that it is the first, last, best and only hope of 20th century mankind."

Dale Pontius wrote in the Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science:

"Suzanne Labin's The Secret of Democracy, translated from the French, is one of the most thoughtful tracts of our time. Miss Labin has the happy facility of seeing the essential and finding rich and forceful expression. She asks the important questions about both democratic and totalitarian rule. Armed with acute use of the most penetrating literature on politics, and her own searching robes, she demolishes the dictatorships and demonstrates the calm realities of democracy. Political judgment, a use of psychoanalytic insights, and historic perspective join forces in Miss Labin with an ability to write memorable language."