Biography:Gáspár Miklós Tamás

Short description: Hungarian philosopher (1948–2023)

Gáspár Miklós Tamás
Born	(1948-11-28)28 November 1948 Cluj, Romania
Died	15 January 2023(2023-01-15) (aged 74) Budapest, Hungary
Nationality	Romanian Hungarian
Education	Babeș-Bolyai University
Era	21st-century philosophy
Region	Western philosophy
School	Continental philosophy
Main interests	Political theory
Notable ideas	Post-fascism
Influences Karl Marx • Antonio Negri • Hans-Georg Backhaus • Helmut Reichelt • Robert Brenner • Ellen Meiksins Wood • Georges Bataille • Moishe Postone
Signature

Gáspár Miklós Tamás (G. M. Tamás; Hungarian: Tamás Gáspár Miklós; 28 November 1948 – 15 January 2023), often referred to as TGM, was a Romanian-born Hungarian political philosopher and public intellectual, influenced by Marxism and libertarian socialism. He was a contributor to online newspaper Mérce and to OpenDemocracy, where he wrote primarily about political and aesthetic questions. He was the father of British poet and writer Rebecca Tamás.

Biography

Gáspár Miklós Tamás was born in today's Cluj, Romania, but emigrated to Budapest, Hungary, in 1978, where he lived for much of his life. His mother was Jewish and escaped being deported to Auschwitz because she was imprisoned for being a communist. As a dissident at the end of the state socialist (communist) period, he was initially a libertarian socialist. While in contact with libertarian authors, his perspective was distinct from the Budapest School, a major school of thought in Hungarian Neo-Marxism. He was also a member of the informal group called the "democratic opposition". From 1986 to 1988, he taught in the U.S., Britain, and France, and also continued his studies at Oxford University. At the beginning of the post-socialist era in 1989, he became committed to a liberal program, and was a leader of the Alliance of Free Democrats. He served in the Hungarian Parliament as a representative of the Alliance of Free Democrats (SZDSZ), from 1989 to 1994. He re-identified as a Marxist in the early years of the 21st century. He served as President of the extra-parliamentary Green Left between 2010 and 2011.

Tamás was a vocal opponent of the Hungarian government led by Viktor Orbán and the Fidesz party, as well as capitalism and neoliberalism. His theoretical work draws on the ideas of Italian autonomism (Antonio Negri), German Neue Marx-Lektüre (Hans-Georg Backhaus and Helmut Reichelt), and American Political Marxism (Robert Brenner and Ellen Meiksins Wood). He also refers to the insights of - among others - Georges Bataille and Moishe Postone.

Tamás was known for developing the concept of post-fascism. and also invented the term ethnicism. In his words,

“ Post-fascism finds its niche easily in the new world of global capitalism without upsetting the dominant political forms of electoral democracy and representative government. It does what I consider to be central to all varieties of fascism, including the post-totalitarian version. Sans Führer, sans one-party rule, sans SA or SS, post-fascism reverses the Enlightenment tendency to assimilate citizenship to the human condition. ”

Tamás died on 15 January 2023, at the age of 74.

Personal life

He described himself as a "conservative anarchist".

Bibliography

Books in English

• Tamás, Gáspar Miklós (2011). Innocent Power. Stuttgart, Germany: Hatje Cantz Verlag. ISBN 9783775728621. https://www.hatjecantz.de/gm-tams-2752-1.html. 

Books in French

• Tamás, Gáspar Miklós (1985) (in fr). L'Oeil et la main: Introduction à la politique. Geneva, Switzerland: Éditions Noir. OCLC 33315996. 

Books in German

• Tamás, Gáspar Miklós (2015) (in de). Kommunismus nach 1989: Beiträge zu Klassentheorie, Realsozialismus, Osteuropa. Vienna, Austria: Mandelbaum Verlag. ISBN 9783854766414. 

Books in Hungarian

• Tamás, Gáspar Miklós (1975) (in hu). A teória esélyei: Esszék, bírálatok. Bucharest, Romania: Kriterion. OCLC 909543438. 
• Tamás, Gáspar Miklós (1994) (in hu). Másvilág: Politikai esszék. Budapest, Hungary: Új Mandátum. ISBN 9789637476204. 
• Tamás, Gáspar Miklós (1999) (in hu). Törzsi fogalmak. I-II. Budapest, Hungary: Atlantisz. ISBN 9789639165267. 
• Tamás, Gáspár Miklós (2021) Antitézis [Antithesis] (in Hungarian). Budapest, Hungary: Pesti Kalligram. ISBN 9789634682035

Further reading

• Bozóki, András; Sükösd, Miklós (2006) (in en). Anarchism in Hungary: Theory, History, Legacies. Social Science Monographs. ISBN 978-0-88033-568-3. 

External links

• Some of his lectures: 1, 2, 3, 4,5, 6, 7
• Some of his speeches: 1, 2
• Central European University: Academic Profile of Gáspár Miklós Tamás
• "Hatred and Betrayal." The Guardian, 9 May 2007.[1]
• "Hungary: Where We Went Wrong." Interview with Chris Harman. International Socialism, 24 June 2009. [2]
• "The Left and Marxism in Eastern Europe: An Interview with Gáspár Miklós Tamás." Interview with Imre Szeman. Mediations: Journal of the Marxist Literary Group, volume 24, number 2, Spring 2009. [3]
• "On Post-Fascism." Boston Review, Summer 2000. [4]
• "Socialism and Freedom." Jacobin, 5.12.2015. [5]
• "Telling the Truth about Class." Socialist Register vol. 42, 2006. [6]
• "Words from Budapest." New Left Review 80, March–April 2013. [7]