λαοκρατία
Τί γὰρ γένοιτ᾽ ἂν ἕλκος μεῖζον ἢ φίλος κακός; → What wound is greater than a false friend?
English (LSJ)
mob rule, mob-rule, laocracy, ochlocracy, Men.Rh. p.359 S.
Greek Monolingual
η (Α λαοκρατία)
νεοελλ.
1. η άσκηση τών εξουσιών της πολιτείας από τον λαό
2. το καθεστώς της λαϊκής δημοκρατίας
αρχ.
δημοκρατία.
[ΕΤΥΜΟΛ. < λαο- + -κρατία (< κράτης < κράτος), πρβλ. γυναικοκρατία, τρομοκρατία].
Wikipedia EN
Laocracy (Greek: λαοκρατία) is a political term meaning "rule of the people". It has been used by the Communist Party of Greece (KKE, Κομμουνιστικό Κόμμα Ελλάδας) since its inception, instead of the term democracy.
For Greek Communists the Greek word democracy (δημοκρατία), meaning the rule of the demos, refers to the ancient rule of the ruling social class of free citizens, forming the demos, in the Athenian Republic of the city-state which represented a minority while the slaves were the majority of the population. In this sense, democracy is considered by the Greek Communists to refer to the rule of the minority, through representative parliamentary democracy, while laocracy would be direct democracy, exercised by the people themselves. Russian socialist populism or narodnism and German National Socialist Volkism are two forms of laocracy.
German (Pape)
[λᾱ], ἡ, = δημοκρατία, Sp.