• t3rmit3@beehaw.org
    5·
    1 year ago

    Not quite what it refers to now, but I’m sure you’ll inform us that you know better.

    Tankie is a pejorative label generally applied to communists who express support for one-party communist regimes that are associated with Marxism–Leninism, whether contemporary or historical.

    • zerfuffle@lemmy.ml
      2·
      1 year ago

      The term “tankie” was originally used by dissident Marxist–Leninists to describe members of the Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB) who followed the party line of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU). Specifically, it was used to distinguish party members who spoke out in defense of the Soviet use of tanks to crush the Hungarian Revolution of 1956 and the 1968 Prague Spring uprising.

      This is why people don’t cite Wikipedia.

      • t3rmit3@beehaw.org
        6·
        1 year ago

        Yes, that is the origin of the term, but it is not what it means now. Is that too complex for you?

        • zerfuffle@lemmy.ml
          1·
          1 year ago

          By the widely recognized origin of the word (the Soviet Union rolling in tanks to suppress revolution in Hungary) and what it means (people in support of that use of force and tanks to suppress civilian revolution), supporters of Israel and the US are both “tankies.” Glad we agree, good talk!

          Let me be a bit more clear:

          By the widely recognized origin of the word

          Edit: maybe I wasn’t clear enough

          widely recognized origin

          • t3rmit3@beehaw.org
            5·
            1 year ago

            Ah, I see your confusion.

            what it means (people in support of that use of force and tanks to suppress civilian revolution)

            This ^ is the incorrect part of your statement. That is not what it means now.

            edit: Also

            Tankie refers to those people who supported the Soviet use of tanks to quell the Hungarian revolution.

            Emphasis added. If you meant “referred” in the past tense, that was a typo on your part. Otherwise, you are just trying to reclaim the term to an earlier meaning.