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Are you a "tankie"? (2025 edition)
(lemmy.ml)
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this post was submitted on 24 Sep 2025
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No in the sense of back when anarchists used it to mean ML/Stalinist/AES types. No idea right now where the word seems to have no meaning. I don't think I've heard a definition of "tankie" that described my politics at least so probably still no. In general you should just say what you mean.
It's just a pejorative for communist at this point, alongside "pinko" and "red."
It was very bizarre seeing that change happen in real time. It was always a stupid word though, because even back when it was an anarchist term for a particular type of Marxist, the boundaries of what exact kinds of Marxists were encapsulated by it always changed from anarchist to anarchist. If you're actually talking politics and not memeing then you should say what exactly you mean.
To be fair, it still means something different to everyone, the common denominator is generally anti-imperialism, pro-communism, Marxism, etc.
I don't think it's fair to say that "anti-imperialism" was one of the requirements when many of the western ML/Stalinist groups that would generally fall under any anarchist's definition of "tankie" were very much chauvinist/nationalistic. Like that describes basically nearly every "communist party" in the west.
Obviously the modern anarchist usage of the term was fairly different to the origin of the term anyway, which meant a self-proclaimed communist who supported Soviet imperialism in Hungary, which Stalinists were/are opposed to. But I guess they re-used the term now that Khrushchevites are not really a thing anymore.
I don't really agree with classifying putting down the 1956 color revolution where fascists were let out of jail to lynch Jewish people and communist officials as "Soviet imperialism," but putting that all aside anti-imperialism still gets you labeled a "tankie." Opposing the west these days and its plunder of the world is sufficient to be called a "tankie" even if you reject Marxism-Leninism.
Sure, some people use it that way, but you listed it as a requirement. Chauvinists get called "tankies" too so clearly it's not a requirement.
I listed it as an option, not a requirement.
I don't think it makes sense to list as something in common with the various groups called "tankie" when (at least until recently) it was rather orthogonal to whether or not anyone considered you a "tankie". But in any case it doesn't really matter.