It is with deep sadness that we report the passing of Professor Emeritus of Political Science Paul Thomas, who taught at the University of California, Berkeley until his retirement. Thomas passed on Tuesday evening, Oct. 11. Professor Thomas graduated from the University of Manchester, U.K., with First Class Honours in Modern History with Economics and Politics, and was one of the first John F. Kennedy Scholars from the U.K. to attend Harvard University, which awarded him his Doctorate in 1973. A specialist in Marx, Marxism and Political Theory, Professor Thomas's books include Karl Marx and the Anarchists (Routledge, 1980, second edition 2010); Alien Politics: Marxist State Theory Retrieved, Routledge, 1994; Rational Choice Marxism (co-edited with Terrell Carver), Macmillan, 1994; Culture and the State (co-edited with David Lloyd), Routledge, 1997; and Marxism and Scientific Socialism. From Engels to Althusser (Routledge, 2008 ; Chinese language edition, Jiangsu People's Publishing House, 2010). Professor Thomas's articles on Marx and Marxism include contributions to The Cambridge Companion to Marx and The Socialist Register, and he has published broadly on Rousseau, other political theorists, film and cultural studies. As one of the first Berkeley faculty members to teach a course that would satisfy the Breadth Requirement in American Cultures, Professor Thomas was a past Chair of the Berkeley Academic Senate-instituted American Cultures Committee. He also served as Secretary-Treasurer of the Research Committee on Political Philosophy (International Political Science Association). Professor Thomas was also a Contributing Editor of Film Quarterly, an ecumenical University of California Press journal. Please join us on Friday, April 7, 2017 at the UC Berkeley Faculty Club Seaborg Room, from 5 to 7 p.m. to honor Professor Thomas.
