DEMAGOGY. - Demagogy, according to its etymological sense—the art of leading the people—has not always carried the pejorative meaning attributed to it today. In ancient Greece, a demagogue was either an eloquent orator or a statesman who knew how to exercise influence over the people and position himself as their leader, as, for example, Pericles. Demagogy receives a wholly negative evaluation in Aristotle, who attributes the degeneration of democracy into oligarchy and tyranny to the actions of demagogues, who are also at the root of revolutions. By stirring up the passions of the people against the rich, they foment hatred and contempt for the government, or, exploiting the favor of the masses whose interests they claim to defend, they tend to establish their own tyranny.
The pejorative sense assigned to demagogy by Aristotle remains today the only one in which the word is understood. It denotes either the actions of agitators who, fanning the flames of popular passions, aim to incite the people against existing institutions, or the corrupt forms of democracy in which freedom is replaced by popular dictatorship and tyranny, or the pliable and accommodating politics that yields to street movements and seeks to satisfy the often unjust demands of agitated masses at the expense of broader collective interests.
Demagogy must not be confused with democracy, though democratic regimes are particularly susceptible to demagogic corruption, especially among peoples insufficiently mature to respect the rules governing political competition. Throughout various periods of history, many demagogues have left their mark. Often driven by ideological fanaticism and intensely held ideals—though not always adequate to reality—they have drawn masses in their wake, exerting extraordinary influence over their minds, as, for example, Cola di Rienzo did with the Roman plebs. Demagogy, however, has become a method for modern currents of socialism and communism, which employ it as a means to dismantle bourgeois institutions and guide the proletariat toward dictatorship over public life.