<< It was in this district of Agha that he was photographed on April 27, 1882, a photo taken just before having his beard shaved. On April 28, he wrote to his faithful friend Friedrich Engels: “Because of the sun, I got rid of my prophet’s beard and my fleece, but (as my daughters prefer me with it), I had my photograph taken before sacrifice my hair on the altar of an Algiers barber. I will have the pictures next Sunday (April 30). I’ll send you specimens from Marseilles\u2026\u201d Then he goes to a barber in the Casbah.>><\/em><\/p>\n Marx arrived in Algiers on Monday morning, a place I and the doctors had always wanted him to go to, though he himself wasn\u2019t very keen. He has met a judge in the\u00a0tribunal\u00a0<\/em>civil there, a former deportee of Bonaparte\u2019s, who has made a close study of communal ownership among the Arabs and has offered to enlighten him on the subject.<\/p>\n Kindest regards both to yourself and Kautsky.<\/p>\n Yours, Marx-Engels Correspondence 1882<\/p>\n Source<\/span>:\u00a0MECW<\/em>\u00a0Volume 46, pp. 238-243; Darling Cacadou,<\/p>\n I reproach myself for not having written to you again until now, not that there\u2019s anything special to report from here. How often do I not think of you \u2013 at Eastbourne, beside my Jenny\u2019s sick-bed, and during your faithful daily visits so cheering to that crosspatch,\u00a0Old Nick<\/strong>. But you should know, dear child, that this week and last were Ferm\u00e9\u2019s Easter vacation; he lives in the rue Michelet (as part of the route Mustapha sup\u00e9rieur is called) at the foot of the hill from which the Hotel Victoria looks down. It\u2019s only a stone\u2019s throw away for him, although he has to \u2018clamber\u2019 since there\u2019s no proper path leading up to it. And in fact he has latterly been visiting me assiduously, thus frustrating the best of resolutions in regard to afternoon letter-writing. \u2013 Otherwise not an unwelcome guest,\u00a0Mr.<\/strong>\u00a0Ferm\u00e9, nor devoid of humour. After I had given him some\u00a0Citoyens\u00a0<\/em>and\u00a0\u00c9galit\u00e9s<\/em>to read, he arrived chuckling not a little over Guesde\u2019s \u2018terrorism of the future\u2019 [which is to go on] until \u2013 this anticipated in heavy type \u2013 the last bourgeois oppressor has been guillotined out of existence. Ferm\u00e9 is not fond of Algiers whose climate doesn\u2019t suit either him or his family (often visited by fever, etc.) although its members are all of them \u2018des indigen\u00e8s\u2019 \u00e0 commencer par Madame l\u2019\u00e9pouse.\u00a0<\/em>Above all, however, his salary as a judge is hardly sufficient for even the most modest way of life. Living in a colonial capital is always expensive. But one thing he does admit \u2013 in no town\u00a0elsewhere<\/strong>, which is at the same time the seat of the central government, is there such\u00a0laisser faire, laisser passer<\/em>; police reduced to a\u00a0bare minimum<\/em>; unprecedented public\u00a0sans g\u00eane<\/em>; the Moorish element is responsible for this.<\/p>\n For Mussulmans there is no such thing as subordination; they are neither \u2018subjects\u2019 nor \u2018administr\u00e9s<\/em>\u2019; no authority, save in\u00a0politica,\u00a0<\/em>something which Europeans have totally failed to understand. Few police in Algiers, and such as there are for the most part\u00a0indigen\u00e8s.\u00a0<\/em>And yet, with such a medley of national elements and unscrupulous characters, frequent clashes are inevitable, and it is here that the\u00a0Catalonians\u00a0<\/em>live up to their old reputation; the white or red belts they wear, like the Moors, etc., outside their coats and not, like the French, beneath their clothing, often conceal \u2018bodkins\u2019 \u2013\u00a0long stilettos\u00a0<\/em>which these sons of Catalonia are not slow to \u2018employ\u2019 with equal impartiality against Italians, Frenchmen, etc., and natives alike. Incidentally, a few days ago a gang of forgers was apprehended in the province of Oran, amongst them their chief, a former Spanish officer; their European agency, it now transpires, is in the capital of Catalonia \u2013 Barcelona! Some of the laddies were not arrested and escaped to Spain. This piece of news, and others of a similar kind, derives from Ferm\u00e9. The latter has received 2 advantageous offers from the French government;\u00a0firstly,\u00a0<\/em>a transfer to New Caledonia where he would, at the same time, be responsible for introducing a new legal system, salary 10,000 frs (he and family to travel there gratis and, on arrival, be given free official accommodation); or,\u00a0secondly,\u00a0<\/em>to\u00a0Tunis,\u00a0<\/em>where he would likewise occupy a higher magisterial rank than here, and under far more favourable conditions. He has been given a certain period in which to make up his mind; will accept one or the other.<\/p>\n From Mr Ferm\u00e9 to the weather\u00a0<\/em>is a natural transition, since he freely heaps imprecations on the same. \u2013 Since Easter Monday (incl.) I have not missed a single morning stroll, although only yesterday (12th) and today have been spared the caprices of April. Yesterday,\u00a0bien que nous subissions le l\u00e9ger siroco et, par cons\u00e9quent, quelques coups de vent, ce fut le maximum du beau temps: \u00e0 9 heures le matin (le 12) le temperature \u00e0 l\u2019ombre fut de 19.5\u00b0, et celle au soleil, de 35\u00b0.\u00a0<\/em>In spite of having gone for a walk in the morning (12 April), I visited Algiers in the afternoon in order to take a look at the Russian ironclad,\u00a0Peter the Great,\u00a0<\/em>which had arrived in the harbour there a few days before.<\/p>\n The official meteorological office has forecast intense atmospheric disturbances for 15-16 April (when there\u2019ll be\u00a0orage<\/em>), 19, 21, 25, 27, 29 and 30 April; nevertheless, the weather during the remainder of April will on the whole be fine at the same time it is feared that\u00a0in May,\u00a0<\/em>to make up for the absence of a\u00a0true Algerian spring\u00a0<\/em>(which did not begin till yesterday), summer will arrive all at once and with it unbearable heat.\u00a0However that may be<\/strong>, I do not, as\u00a0corpus vile\u00a0<\/em>feel inclined to serve as an experimental station for the weather. In view of the altogether abnormal character of the past 4\u00bd months, God knows\u00a0what Algeria may have in store<\/strong>. Large numbers of shrewd folk (amongst them\u00a0l\u2019illustre<\/em>\u00a0\u2018Ranc\u2019) departed from the African shore day before yesterday. I shall only stay until Dr Stephann has declared my left side to be in good order again, apart, of course, from the scar well known to the\u00a0doctissimi\u00a0<\/em>Drs Donkin and Hume, left by an earlier attack of pleurisy. What has been tiresome here so far is the constant recurrence of my cough, even if within\u00a0moderate<\/strong> limits; withal,\u00a0 much boredom.<\/p>\n Interruption of the most agreeable kind:\u00a0<\/em>knocks at the door<\/strong>;\u00a0Entrez!\u00a0<\/em>Madame Rosalie (one of the serving spirits<\/strong>) brings me a letter from you, dear Cacadou, and, from the good Gas\u00e7on, a long letter of which the paper, like the envelope, already bears the official stamp: \u2018L\u2019Union Nationale\u2019.\u00a0<\/em>This time he seems to have pulled it off!\u00a0Ce n\u2019est pas une de ces entreprises patron\u00e9es par Mr Ch. Hirsch!\u00a0<\/em>On the other hand, to be sure, the prospect of my Cacadou\u2019s departure looms closer! But not just yet, I trust. Also, I regard it as some compensation that Aunty Cacadou should represent so great a gain to Jennychen and her children; anyway, with Paris so close, there\u2019s no need to spend the whole year in London. \u2013 Apropos. Has\u00a0Lafargue\u00a0<\/em>sent the next instalment of the article to Petersburg? (I don\u2019t know what became of the first consignment.) It\u2019s most important not to lose the vantage point of Petersburg; it will gain in importance daily! Also for anyone who sends despatches there.<\/p>\n I commence this letter\u00a0at the <\/em>moment <\/em>when I have a few lines to be added to the foregoing, that is to say at about 1\u00a0o\u2019clock p.m.\u00a0<\/em>The day ended yesterday as fine as that of the 12th. Both\u00a0the evenings\u00a0<\/em>12 and 13 (about 8 hours p. m.) were warm \u2013 quite exceptional this \u2013 but cool (relatively) at the same time, hence really delightful. This morning the warmth a little more \u2018heavy\u2019, and just since two hours the wind blows violently, probably the \u2018orage\u2019\u00a0<\/em>predicted yesterday from 14-15.<\/p>\n Yesterday at 1 o\u2019clock p. m. we went down to Inferior Mustapha whence the tram brought us to\u00a0Jardin Hamma\u00a0<\/em>or\u00a0Jardin d\u2019Essai,\u00a0<\/em>which is used for \u2018Promenade Publique<\/em>\u2019 with occasional military music, as \u2018p\u00e9pini\u00e8re\u2019\u00a0<\/em>for the production and diffusion of the indigenous vegetables, at last for the purpose of\u00a0scientific botanical experiments\u00a0<\/em>and as agarden\u00a0<\/em>of \u2018acclimatation\u2019.<\/em>\u00a0\u2013 This all encloses a very large ground, part of which is mountainous, the other belonging to the plain. In order to see more minutely, you would want at least a whole day, and beside being somebody with you a\u00a0connaisseur, f. i.\u00a0<\/em>like M. Ferm\u00e9\u2019s friend and old Fourieriste, M. Durando, professor of botanics, who is the leader of a section of the \u2018Club Alpin Fran\u00e7ais\u2019 on its regular Sunday excursions. (I very much regretted that my bodily circumstances and the Dr. Stephann\u2019s strict prohibition till now did not yet allow me to share in these excursions, having 3 times [been] invited thereto.)<\/p>\n Well, before entering the Jardin d\u2019Essai\u2019 we took coffee, of course in the free air, a Mauresque \u2018caf\u00e9<\/em>\u2019. The Maure prepared it excellently, we were on a bank. On a rough table, in inclined positions, their legs crossed, half a dozen Maure visitors were delighted in their small \u2018cafeti\u00e8res<\/em>,\u2019 (everyone gets one of his own) and together playing at cards (a conquest this on them of civilisation). Most striking this spectacle: Some of these Maures were dressed pretentiously, even richly, others in, for once I dare call it\u00a0blouses,<\/em>sometime of white woollen appearance, now in rags and tatters \u2013 but in the eyes of a true Musulman such accidents, good or bad luck, do not distinguish Mahomet\u2019s children.Absolute equality in their social intercourse,\u00a0<\/em>not affected; on the contrary, only when demoralized, they become aware of it; as to the hatred against Christians and the hope of an ultimate victory over these infidels, their politicians justly consider this same feeling and practice of absolute equality (not of wealth or position but of personality) a guarantee of keeping up the one, of not giving up the latter.* (Nevertheless, they will go to rack and ruin without\u00a0a revolutionary movement<\/strong>.)<\/p>\n *<\/b>In regard to the plain part of the\u00a0Jardin d\u2019Essai<\/em>\u00a0I remark only: It is cut by\u00a0three great longitudinal \u2018all\u00e9es<\/em>\u2019 of a wonderful beauty; opposite to the principal entry is the \u2018all\u00e9e<\/em>\u2019\u00a0of the platenes [platanes]\u00a0<\/em>; then the \u2018all\u00e9e des palmiers<\/em>\u2019, ended by an oasis of immense 72 \u2018palmiers<\/em>\u2019, limited by the railway and the sea; at last the \u2018all\u00e9e<\/em>\u2019 of the magnolia and a sort\u00a0of figues<\/em>\u00a0(ficus roxburghi<\/em>). These three great \u2018all\u00e9es<\/em>\u2019 are themselves cut by many others crossing them, such as the long \u2018all\u00e9e des bambous<\/em>\u2019 astonishing, the \u2018all\u00e9e<\/em>\u2019\u00a0of \u2018palmiers \u00e0 chanvre<\/em>\u2019, the \u2018dragon[n]iers<\/em>\u2019, the \u2018eucalyptus\u2019 (blue gum of Tasmania), etc., (the latter are of an extraordinarily quick vegetation).<\/p>\n Of course, these sorts of*\u00a0all\u00e9es\u00a0<\/em>cannot be reproduced in European \u2018Jardins d\u2019acclimatation\u2019.<\/em><\/p>\n During the afternoon there was a concert of military music in a large open space encircled by plane trees; the conductor, a non commissioned officer, wore ordinary French uniform, whereas the musicians (common soldiers) wore red, baggy trousers (of oriental cut), white felt boots buttoning up to the bottom of the baggy trousers; on their heads a red fez.<\/p>\n While on the subject of the garden, I did not mention (though some of these were very pleasing to the nose) orange trees, lemon \u2013 ditto, almond trees, olive trees, etc.; nor, for that matter, cactuses and aloes which also grow wild (as do wild olives and almonds) in the rough country where we have our abode.<\/p>\n Much though this garden delighted me, I must observe that what is abominable about this and similar excursions is the ubiquitous\u00a0chalky dust;\u00a0<\/em>though I felt well in the afternoon and after coming home and during the night, my cough was nonetheless rather troublesome, thanks to the irritation caused by the dust.<\/p>\n I am expecting Dr Stephann today, but as I cannot put off the despatch of this missive, I will send a report to Fred, later on.<\/p>\n <\/p><\/blockquote>\n Finally, as Mayer of Swabia used to say, let us take a little look at things from a higher historical perspective. Our nomadic Arabs (who have, in many respects, gone very much to seed while retaining, as a result of their struggle for existence, a number of sterling qualities) have memories of having once produced great philosophers, scholars, etc., which, they think, is why Europeans now despise them for their present ignorance. Hence the following little fable, typical of Arab folklore.<\/p>\n <\/p><\/blockquote>\n With much love and many kisses.<\/p>\n\n
\nF. E.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\nAnd then this fantastic letter from Marx to Laura:<\/h4>\n
\n
Marx To Laura Lafargue
\nIn London<\/h3>\n[Algiers,] Thursday, 13 April 1882<\/h4>\n
\n
\nFirst published<\/span>: in Marx and Engels, Works, Second Russian Edition, Vol. 35, Moscow, 1964;
\nTranscribed<\/span>: by Tony Brown.<\/p>\n
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Second interruption:\u00a0<\/em>It is\u00a01 o\u2019clock p.m.<\/strong>, and I have promised to visit the \u2018Jardin du Hamma\u2019 ou \u2018Jardin d\u2019Essai\u2019\u00a0<\/em>with Madame Casthelaz,\u00a0son fils,<\/em>\u00a0and one of our other fellow\u00a0pensionnaires,\u00a0<\/em>Madame Claude (of Neufch\u00e2tel). We have to be back\u00a0before dinner<\/strong>\u00a0(6 o\u2019clock p.m.<\/strong>), later than which\u00a0every effort at writing never as yet dared upon by me<\/strong>. So no more till tomorrow. Simply by way of a supplement\u00a0*<\/b>\u00a0to the useful knowledge of Cacadou I allow myself to remark, that on that very Hamma took place the landing of 24,000 soldiers under the commandment of Charles V, emperor, (or Carlos I, according to the Spaniards) on 23 October 1541, 8 days later he had to ship the *\u00a0beaux restes de son arm\u00e9e d\u00e9truite sur les vaisseaux \u00e9chappes \u00e0 la tempete du 26, et ralli\u00e9s\u00a0<\/em>a\u00a0grand peine par Doria, \u00e0 Matifou. Ce dernier lieu ou finit la baie d\u2019Alger c. \u00e0. d.- le cap Matifou<\/em>\u00a0\u2013\u00a0opposite, on the East, to Algiers, is to be espied<\/strong>,\u00a0par des bonnes lunettes,\u00a0<\/em>by myself<\/strong>\u00a0from H\u00f4tel Victorias\u00a0Gallery.<\/strong><\/p>\nVendredi<\/em>, 14 April<\/h4>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/jazairhope.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/Capture-23-300x209.png\")
<\/p>\n\n
A ferryman is ready and waiting, with his small boat, on the tempestuous waters of a river. A philosopher, wishing to get to the other side, climbs aboard. There ensues the following dialogue:<\/h5>\n
Philosopher<\/em>: Do you know anything of history, ferryman?
\nFerryman<\/em>: No!
\nPhilosopher<\/em>: Then you\u2019ve wasted half your life!
\nAnd again: The\u00a0Philosopher<\/i>: Have you studied mathematics?
\nFerryman<\/em>: No!
\nPhilosopher<\/em>: Then you\u2019ve wasted more than half your life.<\/h4>\nHardly were these words out of the philosopher\u2019s mouth when the wind capsized the boat, precipitating both ferryman and philosopher into the water. Whereupon,<\/h4>\n
Ferryman<\/em>\u00a0shouts: Can you swim?
\nPhilosopher<\/em>: No!
\nFerryman<\/em>: Then you\u2019ve wasted your whole life.<\/h4>\n<\/h4>\n
That will tickle your appetite for things Arabic.<\/h4>\n
\n