I keep hearing the term in political discourse, and rather than googling it, I’m asking the people who know better than Google.
The word Tankie originates from 1950s British Communist circles. Specifically, it was used by British Communists to derisively describe their comrades who supported the 1956 invasion of Hungary by the Soviet Union.
Images of the Soviet invasion featured a lot of tanks, hence, “Tankie”.
After that died down, the term didn’t come back into use really, until the 2010s, when leftists on the internet started using it in a tongue-in-cheek sort of way. It was fun to bring back a stupid sounding, incredibly niche, British slang word.
At some point the word breached containment and started to be used by liberals, in a very cavilier sort of way. I’ve seen people use Tankie to describe anyone from Marxist-Leninists, to Marxists generally, to Leftists generally, weird right-wingers who converted to Russian Orthodoxy, pro-Palestine activists, mods of Lemmy instances someone doesn’t like.
Shit, I’ve seen literal Anarchist get called Tankies.
Basically, it’s a meaningless nothing word now, that’s a bit like your boomer grandpa who still thinks it’s the Red Scare, calling Joe Biden a Commie Pinko.
So don’t worry about it too much.
A cute water cistern.
That is an adorable tankie
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No communist calls the ROK an “occupier,” it’s the US Empire that is occupying Korea, with the ROK’s government set up directly by them. This whole comment is really bad, to be honest. In practice, “tankie” is essentially a pejorative for “communist.” I recommend the Prolewiki article on “Tankies,” as well as Nia Frome’s essay “Tankies.”
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No, the government of the southern half of Korea, the Republic of Korea, is not an “occupier.” The democratically elected state was the People’s Republic of Korea (PRK), which spanned the entire peninsula before the US Empire came in, declared it illegal, and split the country in two, against the will of Koreans, and installed the dictator Rhee Syngman in place. The PRK was a quasi-socialist state that predated both the DPRK and ROK’s governments.
Again, “tankie” in practice is just a pejorative for communists, akin to “pinko” or “commie.” The fact that you’re getting very basic communist stances on Korea completely wrong here betrays any sense of legitimacy you have on the subject.
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“Tankie” isn’t a political ideology, it’s a McCarthyite strawman with ready-made characteristics designed to make it so that you don’t have to respond to the points communists make. The origin of the term being in putting down the 1956 CIA supported and MI6 armed fascist counter-revolution in Hungary where the fascists let Nazis out of prison to lynch Jews and communists doesn’t make any difference on today’s usage.
16·17 days agoYour image is really bad quality, you should get a better one, https://www.archives.gov/files/research/jfk/releases/2025/0318/104-10110-10525.pdf
Thank you!
Tankie isn’t a political ideology, it is a commentary on the practice of policy in comparison to stated beliefs.
No, it’s a pejorative and McCarthyite strawman.
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The current usage is as an anticommunist pejorative and McCarthyite strawman.
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The ROK has a liberal democracy, but it was forced on the people of southern Korea without their consent. The US Empire staffed it with prior compradors that were in power during Japanese colonialism. The ROK is currently a dictatorship of capital under a special class of people referred to as “chaebol,” under the occupation of the US Empire.
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All states are “authoritarian,” in that all states are means by which one class exerts its authority over the others. Communists support the working class being in charge of that authority, all communists (unless you count anarchists) support the use of the state against capitalists and fascists, and the majority of practicing communists support socialist states.
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I don’t like being referred to like “one of you.” I don’t care what they posted, I am explaining directly to you.
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The ROK essentially being a comprador government set up by a colonizer does not mean it’s occupying itself. The US Empire is occupying Korea, not the comprador government.
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It’s what centrists call anyone to the left of netanyahu.
Anyone ideologically left of Richard Nixon according to our local blue conservatives.
Nixon was a tankie according to them. He’s responsible for the EPA and OSHA.
Left of Reagan.
You say this ironically, but there are several relatively recent U.S. presidents or people in their administration who have said things that would get them branded tankies today.
I’m thinking specifically of a speech Jimmy Carter gave where he said it’s no wonder North Korea ended up the way it had, considering we bombed every building over two stories into the ground.
Kissinger is also obviously evil but only because of his realpolitik - by modern ideological standards where any anti-Western power is treated as worse than Hitler by even social Democrats, his dispassionate readings would get him labeled a Marxist.
It’s what Liberals call a person who opposes genocide
A size of tank, smaller than normal tank, but bigger than tankette.
When a South Asian calls the British monarchy fascist or Churchill a genocider in my experience.
Isn’t monarchy already a bigger bad word in itself than fascism?
Not according to the Yakubians over at the miserable island.
I actually always wondered a bit about the line between fascism and monarchism. To the casual observer they might seem nearly identical, though I wonder if in historical materialist terms it’s a reactionary attempt to backslide to feudalism rather than progress capitalism to socialism.
Fascism doesn’t necessarily have the hereditary property of monarchism. Power can easily get transferred to other families, not related by blood.
no
Please expand upon that thought.
It’s essentially a pejorative for “communist.” I recommend the Prolewiki article on “Tankies,” as well as Nia Frome’s essay “Tankies.”
For those that want an introduction to Marxism-Leninism, I made an introductory Marxist-Leninist reading list, check it out!
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All states are “authoritarian,” in that all states are means by which one class exerts its authority over the others. Communists support the working class being in charge of that authority, all communists (unless you count anarchists) support the use of the state against capitalists and fascists, and the majority of practicing communists support socialist states.
Ha ha yeah, the good ol “authoritarianism exists everywhere!” Argument
You know well and good when someone says a government is authoritarian they mean things like speech being controlled and unable to criticize the government, being heavily restricted in your freedom of movement, being heavily restricted in the information you’re allowed to access or possess and so on and so forth
Those tactics are employed by every state in the interest of whichever class is in control, against whichever class is in opposition, to the extent necessary to preserve the existing property relations. All communists support wielding the state against capitalists, fascists, and reactionaries that would topple the socialist system.
There it is again. The classic “everything is authoritarian so the word doesn’t mean anything” routine. It’s funny how that only shows up when someone calls tankies authoritarian. Communism isn’t bad because some western pundit said so, it’s bad when it turns into an excuse to justify control.
The idea of giving power to the people is great, but pretending censorship and repression are just “necessary tactics” ruins it. If the system can’t survive without silencing people, it’s not socialism anymore, it’s just another hierarchy wearing red paint.
Analysis of authority isn’t to “make excuses.” Analysis of authority is critical in analyzing class struggle and the state. You’re saying it’s just as bad for workers to silence fascists and capitalists as it is for capitalists to silence workers, then hide behind phrasemongering.
it’s just another hierarchy wearing red paint
If that were the case, we would expect similar social and economic outcomes in both cases. Then, why did the USSR have the lowest recorded wealth and income inequality in history? Why did it have guaranteed employment, guaranteed housing at a cost of 3% of the average income, universal free healthcare and free education to the highest level? Why did it have walkable and public transit-oriented urban planning with services accessible by foot (look up the word “mikroraion” on Wikipedia)? Why could unions remove factory managers if they so decided, and why was there a newspaper to each workplace in which workers could write their complaints and their ideas? Why were the highest-earning individuals university professors and artists and not political bureaucrats?
why was there a newspaper to each workplace in which workers could write their complaints and their ideas
In which more than just airing complaints, something would be done
at least as far as Pat Sloan writes in ~1937
The editorial committee of a Soviet newspaper, whether of a factory wall-newspaper or of the Government’s newspaper Izvestia, does not deal with its correspondence in this light-handed way. For on every Soviet newspaper, from the very smallest to the very largest, there are members of the editorial staff whose entire work is to deal with the complaints of readers, to investigate these complaints, and to see what can be done to remedy their grievances, if any real grievances exist.
The editorial staff of the wall-newspaper, receiving these topical comments on the life of the factory, is under an obligation, not merely to publish them, but to investigate the complaints; and to publish the letters with a statement of what has been done to redress the grievances expressed. […]
The chapter “A People’s Press” https://comlib.encryptionin.space/epubs/soviet-democracy/
The problem with this argument is that you’re looking for some idealistic version of communism without any regard as to it’s actual feasibility. You want communism with western liberal democratic packaging, a communism that explicitly rejects any kind of violence or force against class enemies, afraid of being accused of repression, and that leaves the door wide open for counterrevolutionary forces to seize back control. You want something that works better as protest than as practical implementation. It’s just Eurocommunism for the 21st century. There’s a reason why this kind of communism only exists in the developed western world. It clings onto the notion of western superiority, and regards communists of the global south to be barbaric, authoritarian, and oppressive.
There’s also a reason why this ideology is not the platform of practically any active and actually existing communist party in the world. It’s the communism of idealists who haven’t read theory, or understood theory. It borrows heavily from the “marketplace of ideas” where the opponents of the revolution can be defeated purely by a good argument.
Furthermore, I’m wondering “authoritarian compared to whom, exactly?” Look around you. Violence unleashed on peaceful protesters everywhere, asking for anything from less police violence to don’t cut or freeze wages to tax dollars for citizens not genocide.
Tankies are authoritarian communists
I’m not exactly optimistic about socialists winning elections in my country, maybe I can ask the billionaires politely?
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I had no idea this would ignite a shitstorm. I have so many responses now and less idea of what a tankie is now than when I asked.
Ask with an account federated with Hexbear and Lemmygrad, and you’ll get more communist perspectives.
I actively ban hexbear’s entire instance. I relish the fact that I simply can’t see all the hexbear responses to this thread. I don’t think I’ve ever met anyone on hexbear (pre banning) that was even remotely open to considering other viewpoints. It just became so toxic, so quick, whenever their users get involved.
There are no hexbear responses because .world is defederated from Hexbear. Hex has little tolerance for liberalism in my experience, because that’s the default on the english-speaking internet.
because .world is defederated from Hexbear
Other way around. .world is defederated from lemmygrad, but you can still find this post on there
Hex and .world are mutually defederated, no? .world defederated first I thought.
Yes. But… technically it doesn’t show up on hexbear because hexbear defederated from .world, and if it wasn’t mutual it would show up (as seen with 'grad)
Edit: It’s an pretty much a useless distinction that I’m probably only making cuz I should go to bed.
I’m confused. Maybe I don’t understand federation as well as I thought.
~~This post originates on .ml, right?
So what does .world’s federation status with hexbear have to do with my ability to see hexbear posts on .ml?~~
Edit: Ah, no, the post does in fact originate on .world so .world’s federation status with hexbear is determinant for the lack of hexbear posts, not my individual blocking of the instance.
Yep, the comm is .ml but the poster is .world, ao it’s like it’s invisible to anyone that can’t see both .ml and .world.
Other viewpoints: Maybe been 50% nazi is not so bad!
I relish the fact that I simply can’t see all the hexbear responses
I don’t think I’ve ever met anyone on hexbear (pre banning) that was even remotely open to considering other viewpoints.
Uhuh
So, basically, this person is happy to blind themselves to other viewpoints to avoid viewpoints they disagree with/people they claim are blind to other viewpoints.
… what an enlightened individual!
There isn’t any. Hexbear has defederated lemmy.world, which is OPs instance, and so this post does not exist for them.
Ah right - oh well, however it’s achieved I don’t have see every post in my feed turn into a discussion with two sharply defined poles: Nazis and communism.
I am in the same boat. Been on here for about 2 years and I hear the words…but i dunno what it means? Thought it was just me.
I’m so happy I’m not as stupid as I thought because I have no idea either and now I still don’t know
It’s a loaded term by design. It started as a pejorative and morphed into a strawman pejorative, you can see many people throughout this thread describing people that don’t exist.
Lol, my comment got removed, I guess you now know which vommunity you signed up on and how they function.
Cheers
Fascist apologia here gets banned, in .world you have people openly saying that Palestinians deserve to be genocided and you guys don’t give a shit
Ah, the old “what about”, now with .world instead of the USA.
I’m saying each community bans something different. I agree with banning fascist discourse, I dont agree with banning communist discourse. .world thinks otherwise and that’s why it’s shit IMO.
.ml bans goid reasoning and valid historical facts lol.
Such as?
I’m on lemmy.world I didn’t sign up for this
Oh sorry, i confounded with this instance, my apologies.
You know that magnifying glass looking icon? You can search terms across instances.
A slur mainly on the internet against those leftist (usually Marxists-leninist) who oppose western interventions, sanctions, coups and wars against countries and governments labeled as “authoritarian”.
originally used by UK communists party trotskyist wing in support of Hungarian -56 crushed uprising against those who opposed it, calling them tankies. Vaguely same as “stalinist”, but it pretty much has lost that meaning in modern use.
A lot of these comments reminds me of people posting on conservative chats asking what a socialist is. About the same amount of mouth foaming.
I would like to remind people about vaccinations against rabies
Someone who believes people outside of the United States of America are also human beings.
OP, what have you unleashed.
I just thought this was where you came to ask questions.
It is, I’m just kidding around. Your question was innocent enough, it’s just that the comments look like a battlefield.
you’re on the .ml instance, which is an incredibly political place, so you’re gonna get a lot of flack
I think every instance has pretty strong political views
