Was Athenian Democracy Founded By A Certain Class?

Most domestic scholars in the past tried to construct a class of industrial and commercial slaveholders to explain the origin of Athenian Democracy in accordance with the Marxism thinking of “unitary economic determinism” and the “Class Struggle Theory” throughout the whole discussion.With the development of relevant research at home and abroad,this theory is becoming more and more untenable.By analyzing the basic economic nature of Athens and investigating the existence of slavery economy in Athens,this paper holds that there was no industrial and commercial slave master class in Athens.It was an agricultural civilization society,and Athenian Democracy was formed on the basis of small-scale peasant economy.Specifically,according to Michael Mann’s dynamic multi-factor theory,the origin of Athenian Democracy was the result of the interaction of multiple factors such as economy,military,politics and ideology,which was manifested in the sense of collectivism and equality brought by small-scale peasant economy and phalanx warfare.On the basis of the agricultural economy,the small peasant class developed a spirit of collectivism and the concept of equality through the form of phalanx warfare,which finally played a major role in the establishment of Athenian Democracy.At the same time,history was created by human beings under certain historical conditions,and they are not completely ingenious.There were special personal motivations of some important historical figures whose choices also had a profound influence on the origin of Athenian Democracy,such as Solon and Cleisthenes.Their independence promoted the establishment of Athenian Democracy and played an irreplaceable role,and their existence also corrected Michael Mann’s view of “four dynamic factors”.Therefore,the origin of Athenian Democracy was a result of the dynamic action of multiple factors mainly based on ideological factors,and some unique personal motivations.