I keep hearing the term in political discourse, and rather than googling it, I’m asking the people who know better than Google.
A size of tank, smaller than normal tank, but bigger than tankette.
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.”
Wassa tankie?
I need my Tankie siblings to look at these comments and tell me it’s worth conversing with any of these people lmao, let them play in their own shit. If they’ll ever be convinced, the material failures of their worldview will do it for us, if not- the future’s ash and fertilizer welcome them.
you sound bitter as fuck about it
Yes.
try to genuinely understand where your siblings are coming from. you might not change your mind but you will at least be more chill about it.
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.
There are far too many comments that just got removed by the moderator! I asked the question, and while I might not agree with all the replies, I was glad that people felt like it was okay to do so.
If you want to know about any subject, ask a person that is a proponent of said subject first and then get the harshest criticism second and see how the first holds up. You will find an answer eventually in this hegelian dialectic. E.g. You don’t want an anti-feminists explaining feminism to you, without hearing from a feminist first.
you asked what a “tankie” is in one of the very few places on the internet that is a tankie space/instance. Let them explain to you first. The removed comments are “dronies” (politically confused people that hold the same views as western imperialists and are subject to their hegemony) are outsiders that come from other parts of the fediverse repeating the same talking points you read about everywhere else on the (western) internet. (To stay with the analogy: similar to an anti-feminist saying that feminists hate men, when its not true). Comments get removed here when they are factually wrong
A cute water cistern.
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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.
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
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.
6·6 hours agobecause .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.
Other viewpoints: Maybe been 50% nazi is not so bad!
There isn’t any. Hexbear has defederated lemmy.world, which is OPs instance, and so this post does not exist for them.
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
You know that magnifying glass looking icon? You can search terms across instances.
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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.
Your 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.
how dare those damn tankies improve material conditions.
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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I’m losing track too. These policial people keep making up terms for the people they disagree with and they keep disagreeing with their own groups so those groups split into new groups and then more terms are needed for those new groups name.
It’s childish.
It’s essentially just the modern day “commie”, used to carry out mccarthyite witch-hunting against anyone perceived to be “anti-white”.
It really is adult name calling, and it further polarizes the political spectrum by naming every single fucking mindset and ideology combination you can think of. It’s just not constructive at all.
We need to talk about ideas and issues and how we can understand and compromise for one another.
You’ll hear a lot of shit, but I’ll humanise the tankies. OK. So you’re a human being and you see an imperialist power doing horrendous things in the name of capitalism, patriarchy, and racial dominance. That’s bad. So bad that you begin to think that anyone against that must inherently be good. You’re so committed to that ideal that you will justify, defend, or dismiss every evil that they commit in turn.
You do see horrible shit happen in America, or in the world in America’s name. But oftentimes international conflict is just a few bad bitches racing to the bottom, and you have to be willing to stand by principles, not just “America bad.”
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And by uprising you mean a CIA sponsored color revolution https://www.archives.gov/files/research/jfk/releases/2025/0318/104-10110-10525.pdf
This is a memo about Cuba isn’t it?
The Hungarian Freedom Fighters were Agency sponsored
Thanks for clarifying. Did a little googling.
Hungarian Freedom Fighters Federated INC isn’t the same thing as Hungarian Freedom Fighters. It seems like they’re discussing relations after the revolution. Doesn’t prove they weren’t CIA sponsored revolutionaries, but the best this proves is after escaping to the US they became associated with the CIA.
This
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
It’s what centrists call anyone to the left of netanyahu.
