Parliamentary cretinism
Parliamentary cretinism is a derogatory term coined by Karl Marx in The Eighteenth Brumaire by Louis Bonaparte published in May 1852 . The term is used to describe the belief that a socialist society can be achieved through peaceful parliamentary means. Marx and Engels believed that this was a fatal illusion of the socialist movement and that it would only waste time and allow the reactionary forces to develop and grow.
In the words of Friedrich Engels ( Revolution and Counterrevolution in Germany ):
"Since the beginning of their parliamentary careers, they have been more than any other faction in the Assembly contaminated by that incurable disease, parliamentary cretinism, an ailment that fills its unfortunate victims with the lofty conviction that the whole world, its past and future, is steered and determined by the majority of votes of that representative body that has the honor of counting them among its members and that everything and everything that is outside the walls of their house - wars, revolutions, railroad construction, the colonization of whole new continents, California gold discoveries, Central American canals, Russian armies, and whatever else may claim to influence the fate of mankind - that all of these are nothing compared to those immensely important events connected with the invariably meaningful question raised by the House is just paying his attention. "
See also
Individual evidence
- ^ Friedrich Engels: Revolution and counterrevolution in Germany. New York Daily Tribune 1851 to 1852 ( mlwerke.de )