I keep hearing the term in political discourse, and rather than googling it, I’m asking the people who know better than Google.
Someone who believes people outside of the United States of America are also human beings.
A leftist. Someone with political beliefs, empathy, and conviction.
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You would accuse your grandmother defending herself from an attacker as a tankie.
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.
It’s what Liberals call a person who opposes genocide
Typically it refers to leftists who strongly defend/advocate for authoritarian statist approaches to socialism/communism.
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.
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?
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.
Not according to the Yakubians over at the miserable island.
OP, what have you unleashed.
I just thought this was where you came to ask questions.
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
It is, I’m just kidding around. Your question was innocent enough, it’s just that the comments look like a battlefield.
OP I am glad you asked this because I don’t know. Also based on the horseshit answers you have gotten in this post it seems like no one else does either.
worth checking the modlog, seems there were answers that have since disappeared for mysterious reasons.
Come on lib send me the Tiananmen Square video of tanks doing the things you claim they do. @Williama:Genzedong
Some answers haven’t “disappeared for mysterious reasons”, it’s for spreading misinformation. If you disagree then come on, send me a video of the “horrendous crimes committed by China in Tiananmen Square”. I fully consent. @Williama:Genzedong. Surely at least one of the “victims of the massacre” would have recorded something the “ruthless military regime” and their oh so very “despicable acts of massacre”.
If you and other libs are annoyed that the devs are “tankies”, then go back to reddit.
@Williama:Genzedong
I’m not sure what this means, is this a reference i’m supposed to know?
Come on lib send me the Tiananmen Square video of tanks doing the things you claim they do. @Williama:Genzedong
Not sure if this is aimed at me, but i haven’t claimed anything to do with tanks, at any point, ever.
Some answers haven’t “disappeared for mysterious reasons”,
That’s fair , i meant “mysterious reasons” in a less factual and more sarcasm way, but i can see how that might have not come across.
it’s for spreading misinformation.
That’s subjective, which is what that whole thread is about no?
I wasn’t really emphasizing the subjectivity of the claims, as much as just pointing out that answers had been removed and they might be found in the modlog.
You seem to have a strong opinion on this, i do not.
If you disagree then come on, send me a video of the “horrendous crimes committed by China in Tiananmen Square”
I’m sure you can search for whatever videos you need, i haven’t made any claims i would need to provide video evidence for.
I won’t be providing evidence of positions i haven’t taken or claims i haven’t made, that would be silly.
I fully consent. @Williama:Genzedong.
Still not sure what this reference is.
Surely at least one of the “victims of the massacre” would have recorded something the “ruthless military regime” and their oh so very “despicable acts of massacre”.
See the above section about there being no claims or positions taken.
If you want to imagine i’ve sent you proof of this imaginary claim i’ve made so you can be upset in your imagination , feel free.
If you and other libs are annoyed that the devs are “tankies”, then go back to reddit.
See above re: claims that never happened
You really chopped up that comment into tiny pieces just to respond line by line and say absolutely nothing worth reading.
What a giant eyesore waste of time
@mods The rest of this chain was offensive, but this comment consisting solely of a personal attack is not ?
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That is my matrix username
I respond to a someone probably exploring communism asking about a term with an emphasis on the deleting of certain posts spreading misinformation, which might miss guide the person asking the question into some kind of vaushist “leftism” or turn them off from exploring marxism. The specific posts spreading misinformation are claiming a very accusatory claim used by western imperialists to make a government look bad, which in a less fortunate country that is just developing, could be the result of support for a coup to put in a puppet government. Whether you support that claim which is objectively false (https://tankie.tube/w/p/kFZ2joQah4kmt2KSpzPHtb?playlistPosition=6&resume=true <-- is an entertaining starter with sources) is irrelevant when people think these people spreading such disinformation are some kind of heroes.
That is my matrix username
Ah, makes sense.
I respond to a someone probably exploring communism asking about a term with an emphasis on the deleting of certain posts spreading misinformation, which might miss guide the person asking the question into some kind of vaushist “leftism” or turn them off from exploring marxism. The specific posts spreading misinformation are claiming a very accusatory claim used by western imperialists to make a government look bad, which in a less fortunate country that is just developing, could be the result of support for a coup to put in a puppet government. Whether you support that claim which is objectively false (https://tankie.tube/w/p/kFZ2joQah4kmt2KSpzPHtb?playlistPosition=6&resume=true <-- is an entertaining starter with sources) is irrelevant when people think these people spreading such disinformation are some kind of heroes.
That also makes sense, mostly, i disagree with some of it on a logical principle level, but i really don’t have a personal horse in any of the political parts i also don’t know/care enough to get one.
All the things you said might be true, they all might be false, though i suspect they’re all subjective enough to be context dependent, i also suspect we aren’t going to agree on the difference between subjective and objective, which is my main disagreement with the statement as a whole.
My main point was, there were answers that are now deleted, that is provably true.
The subjective accuracy of those answers isn’t really the point and no claim was made on that aspect.
Also, the implied /s for “mysterious” didn’t land and that’s on me.
“Those who do not move, do not notice their chains”
-Rosa Luxemborg
edit: damn, that’s a high percentage of sodium for pointing at a thing that provably exists in the modlog.
A size of tank, smaller than normal tank, but bigger than tankette.
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Not a single communist is “enamored by” the Russian Federation, we all wish the USSR had never dissolved. Communists do tend to support China, as it’s the world’s most developed socialist country. Further, 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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Not a single communist believes the Russian Federation’s structure is something to emulate. We all wish the USSR had never dissolved. Support for Russia extends to its trade with socialist countries, opposition to western imperialism, and the public’s rising socialist sympathies:
Communists do tend to support China, as it’s the world’s most developed socialist country. Further, 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.
Like most words it can mean different things depending on context. I’ll do my best to cover a few without spoiling it with my own opinions.
The most common usage is as a blanket pejorative aimed at anyone who identifies as leftist but also openly endorses authoritarian means or ends.
There are also those who embrace the term and they are also not all the same. There are Marxist-Leninists who believe the only path to a stateless egalitarian society is through a revolutionary vanguard party. There are also those who argue that egalitarian society can only be achieved and maintained through benevolent authoritarianism.
In any case, the term carries an implication of authoritarianism and/or revolutionary violence, hence “tanks.”
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.
