Gáspár Miklós Tamás (; 28 November 1948 – 15 January 2023), often referred to as TGM, was a Transylvanian-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 Hungarian-British poet and writer Rebecca Tamás.
Biography Gáspár Miklós Tamás was born in today's Cluj, Romania. He emigrated to Budapest, Hungary, in 1978, after being harassed by the Securitate. 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 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 (SZDSZ). As a representative of the party, he was a member of the Hungarian Parliament from 1989 to 1994, and served the party's president through 1994, departing the party in 2000. He was a prominent democratic opponent of the Hungarian government under János Kádár and Viktor Orbán. He became the Green Left's president in 2010.
Tamás was known for developing the concept of post-fascism and the term ethnicism. In his words,
Tamás died on 15 January 2023, at the age of 74.
Personal life
He described himself as a "conservative anarchist" and a Marxist.
Bibliography Books in English
Books in French
Books in German
Books in Hungarian
Tamás, Gáspár Miklós (2021) Antitézis [Antithesis] (in Hungarian). Budapest, Hungary: Pesti Kalligram. ISBN 9789634682035
Further reading
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. "Hungary: Where We Went Wrong." Interview with Chris Harman. International Socialism, 24 June 2009. "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. "On Post-Fascism." Boston Review, Summer 2000. "Socialism and Freedom." Jacobin, 5.12.2015. "Telling the Truth about Class." Socialist Register vol. 42, 2006. "Words from Budapest." New Left Review 80, March–April 2013.
References
Further reading