Dear Reader,

Sometime in the 5th century BC, an anonymous Athenian had written a pamphlet where he criticised the newly instituted democratic system of politics in Athens, saying, “In the best men you find the minimum of unruliness and injustice, and the maximum inclination towards goodness; whereas among the masses you find the maximum degree of ignorance, disorderliness, and wickedness, given that poverty induces ignominy and from this comes the unmannerliness and brutality that have their sources in indigence.” The entire treatise was presented as a conversation between two citizens, and was perhaps one of the earliest criticisms of Democracy as a form of government (the pamphlet was published more than 2,400 years later in 1982 as La Democrazia come Violenza or Democracy as Violence, by Sellerio).

While democracy may be the most preferred and widely prevalent form of government today, it had strong detractors in its early years, including giants like Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle; and ancient historians like Xenophon and Thucydides. In fact, Plato in his Republic makes his hero Socrates deplore the ancient Athenian Democracy by arguing that it encouraged moral degeneration and lawlessness, where “insolence is called good breeding, extravagance is looked upon as generosity, and shamelessness is interpreted as courage,” (Part IX of Plato’s Republic). The world has changed a lot since then, and Socrates’ words do not apply in this day and age.

However, the idea of “democracy” (literal meaning: rule of the people; from the Greek Demos meaning people, and Kratos meaning power) enlightened and progressive as it seemed when it was first established in Athens in 507 BC, came about more as a result of shrewd realpolitik than any noble egalitarian objective. After the Pisistratids—the powerful family that ruled Athens for 36 years—were overthrown by a new coalition, the two most powerful men of Athens were Cleisthenes (570-508 BC), a scion of the Alcmaeonid family, and Isagoras, a member of an equally ancient and powerful family. The two were rivals for power, and, as Herodotus put it, Cleisthenes was “getting the worse of it” (Section 66, Book V, The Histories).

To counter his opponent’s seemingly inexorable rise, Cleisthenes, played a devastating gambit by securing the support of the common people, who were generally held in contempt by the aristocrats, by taking them into his own political outfit. When Isagoras, who represented the aristocracy, was made chief “archon” (ruler) of Athens, Cleisthenes instigated the common people to revolt, and set up a “popular dictatorship” (The Life of Greece: The Story of Civilization, Part II by Will Durant).

Not to be outdone so easily, Isagoras appealed to Cleomenes, the king of Sparta for help. They were old allies, and Cleomenes was even a house-guest of Isagoras during the fight with the Pisistratids. Never one to shy away from salacious gossip, Herodotus even hinted at an illicit affair between Cleomenes and Isagoras’s wife. Even though Cleisthenes was forced to leave Athens for a while along with 700 aristocratic families, the Athenians rose up as one and fought off Cleomenes and Isagoras and re-installed their beloved mass leader.

Cleisthenes then proceeded to put in place his reforms that brought about the first democracy in the civilised world. First, he demolished the basic structure of Attic aristocracy, which comprised essentially four tribes controlled by old, wealthy families, and replaced it with a new, enlarged structure. “He renamed the tribes and increased their number, appointing ten presidents—phylarchs—instead of the original four, and incorporating ten local subdivisions—‘demes’—in each tribe" (The Histories, Book V). Later historians have clarified that Cleisthenes actually arranged different numbers of demes within each tribe so that each tribe would be roughly equal in total population. Each new tribe was given its own religious ceremony, and a famous hero from the local legends was deified as the patron saint. Freemen of foreign origin, who could not participate in the electoral process under the old system, became citizens of the demes in which they lived and were automatically granted the franchise during elections.

The old aristocratic Council of Four Hundred, set up by the Athenian Law maker Solon in 594 BC, was now replaced by a new Council of 501, where each tribe would send 50 members to the Council. Interestingly, the councillors were chosen by the drawing of lots from a list of all the citizens—aristocrats and commoners alike—who were at least 30 years of age and had not served two terms earlier (each term was for one year). “At one stroke the roll of voters was almost doubled, and democracy secured a new support and a broader base,” wrote Will Durant. With the addition of new citizens, the total strength of the Assembly, the highest political body of Athens, was also greatly increased, and the newfound inclusivity added to its power.

Cleisthenes added one more unique aspect to this new system in order to protect it from ambitious, power-hungry politicians—the institution of “ostracism”. The Assembly, by a simple majority, in a quorum of 6,000 members, could send any man to exile for 10 years, if it felt that he was a threat to the new democratic set-up. In the 97 years that the Athenian democracy existed (till Athens lost its freedom to Sparta in the Peloponnesian War in 403 BC), only 10 people were exiled due to Ostracism, including Cleisthenes himself (reference will durant). “Never before had the world seen so liberal a franchise, or so wide a spread of political power,” observed Will Durant.

Cleisthenes’ system was not as complete a democracy as, say, India’s is today. In an age of slavery, only freemen could enjoy the rights of democracy in Athens. Moreover, there was also a “modest property limitation” (The Story of Civilization, part II) to be eligible for public office. However, ancient Athenian democracy still had a system safeguarding it from being perverted by unscrupulous politics; and, most important, it was cherished and protected by the people themselves. As Herodotus observed: “Thus Athens went from strength to strength, and proved how noble a thing equality before the law is… so long as they were held down by authority, they deliberately shirked their duty in the field, as slaves shirk working for their masters; but when freedom was won, then every man amongst them was interested in his own cause.”

Nearly 2,500 years after the fall of Athens, India has every reason to be proud of its standing as the largest democracy in the world. And even in the face of repeated assaults—ranging from the recent deletion of voters’ name on the ground of “logical discrepancy” during the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls just ahead of the Assembly elections, to the longstanding traditions of electoral malpractice and intimidation during polls—democracy in India has ultimately prevailed.

But… who watches the watchmen?

Till I see you again,

Suhrid Sankar Chattopadhyay

Associate Editor, Frontline

This article is part of Frontline’s monthly newsletter “Once Upon a Time”. Subscribe to receive stories from history delivered to your inbox every month.