don’t tend to express issues with authoritarianism under capitalism.

What? Just because they’re not actively going on about how the West is so shit doesn’t actually mean they don’t think it is, and that is especially pertinent to the fediverse since there’re already so few people on here defending US-style capitalism.

The problem is that you’re using tankie now interchangeably with what was originally ‘leninist’ and the goalposts shifted for what they believe.

I don’t get the constant pedantry about the term “tankie”. It’s simply a pejorative for extreme far-left views which include, but is not limited to, valiant defense of authoritarian regimes, anti-US imperialist states simply because they’re anti-US, etc.

Those threads you showed seem to be disdain for very niche and specific issues pertaining to Russia. Especially since those are hexbear communities which are very notorious for supporting the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Remember, the point here is not that tankies align with Russia on every single issue, it’s that they do so on any issues at all; like the war in Ukraine.

Most marxists/leninists I’ve known in real life are pretty quick to concede the failures of previous socialist states, because having a critical understanding of history is integral to having a materialist worldview.

If that is the case then they certainly aren’t well represented here on the fediverse. All I seen on here is about how past socialist states only failed due to external contradictions, failing to see how external contradictions could have exploited internal contradictions that existed within the system.

I find it’s more often the people complaining loudly about ‘tankies’ who are starting off with slogans and an uncritical reading of their own sides history.

Once again, most leftist anti-tankies already criticize the US. It is failing to see how the alternative isn’t worse. I’m not defending centrists or conservatives here.