In the past, politics played a crucial role in the life of states and peoples - it was required from it that it depict the reality behind it as best as possible. Now, as the French philosopher J. Baudrillard notes, politics has faded away. What can be expressed in the political, what can ensure its effective work, if today even such classical categories as “people”, “class”, “proletariat”, “objective conditions” do not have a social referent? Instead of the people, the masses act on the historical stage, "phantom classes", which means the death of the political process.But the masses need a leader, a usurper, recognized by them, says another French philosopher, Serge Moscovici. The task of the leader is to maintain the stability of the masses and, at the same time, finally approve the refusal of the intellectual and political elite from their obligations to society. To fulfill his tasks, the leader has a large set of special tools in his arsenal, - the German sociologist and philosopher Theodor Adorno talks about them in detail.The collection also contains works by other thinkers of the 20th - early 21st centuries devoted to this topic. Publisher's layout saved in a4.pdf format.