Apostol Arsaki

Apostol Arsaki (b. 1789, near Përmet, Epirus - d. 1869, Bucharest), was a physician and Statesman of Vlach (Aromanian )origin, deputy leader of the Wallachian first and Romanian afterward Conservative Party. He was, moreover, the Romanian Prime Minister for a short time, in June 1862. His major achievement, nonetheless, has been his retort to Karl Marx (the first to have been done by a European scholar) as well as his unrivaled definition of the term "Conservative".

His Studies and Career

Apostol Arsaki obtained his doctorate in Medicine at the University of Halle, Germany in 1812; his thesis De piscium cerebro et medulla spinali was written in Latin. Afterward, he studied Ophthalmology in Vienna and at last, he was appointed doctor at the Panteleimon and Colțea hospitals, Bucharest. He began his political career as Wallachia’s Secretary of State during the rule of Prince Alexander Ghica (1834 - 1842). And when the Romanian Principalities, namely Wallachia and Moldavia, were practically unified, during January 1859, under the rule of Alexander John Cuza, he became Foreign Minister (April 30-May 12, 1861). Early in 1862, Wallachia and Moldavia were officially and solemnly unified, and the Conservative Party assumed the administration of the newborn State: its leader, Barbu Catargiu, became the Prime Minister and Apostol Arsaki assumed the portfolio of Foreign Affairs. Yet, the Domnitor, that is the ruling Prince, Alexander John Cuza, was a fervent left-winger; and the outcome of such a paradoxical situation was the assassination of the Conservative leader, B. Catargiu (a crime that remains unsolved - at least in theory). Thus, Arsaki became the Prime Minister of the Unified Romanian Principalities; but when he realized that his conservative police would never be approved by the Domnitor, and that his life was already in peril, he resigned and retired to a village near the Danube. It was there that he deceased, aged 80.

His Thought

As aforementioned, Apostol Arsaki was the first European intellectual to refute the theories of Karl Marx, as early as the latter half of the 1840s. To be exact: 1)He explained that whenever and wherever the Democrats in general and the Marxists, in particular, seize the power, the "law" exists only in their favor; in other words, it is a means of oppressing and destroying their political rivals. 2)According to Marx and his followers, the workmen are "indispensable to the capitalists". On the other hand, though, also the "capitalists" are indispensable to the workmen. For it is true that the factories cannot function without laborers; but also the laborers cannot make a living without the factories. As a result, the government's primordial mission is to establish a "regime of social harmony". 3)And his most important assertion, the very one which makes the difference between the Right and the Left. The man, in order to enjoy something, must prove beforehand that he deserves to have it. Subsequently, the leftist credo that "anybody merits everything" brings about the catastrophe, the total collapse.

Bibliography

Michalopoulos, Dimitris,  Arsaki. La vie d’un homme d’État, 	Bucharest: Editura Academiei Române, 2008, ISBN 978-973-27-1740-0.

Neagoe, Stelian, Cazul Barbu Catargiu. O crimă politică perfectă, Bucharest: Editura Scripta, 1992, ISBN 973-95696-7-6. Neagoe, Stelian, Istoria Guvernelor României , Bucharest: Editura Machiavelli, 1999, ISBN 973-96599-7-7.