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Parliamentary cretinism is a term originally coined by Karl Marx in chapter five of his Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte[1], published in 1852 following Louis Napoleon's coup d'état in France. It describes the belief that a socialist society can be achieved by peaceful, parliamentary means. Marx and Engels considered this a fatal delusion for the socialist movement, believing it would only waste time and allow reactionary forces to grow stronger.
In the words of Friedrich Engels:
'Parliamentary cretinism' is an incurable disease, an ailment whose unfortunate victims are permeated by the lofty conviction that the whole world, its history and its future are directed and determined by a majority of votes of just that very representative institution that has the honour of having them in the capacity of its members.[2]
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