Saw a comrade post this as a response in the Mousolini dunk thread, that become a dunk thread on an annoying lib calling us tankies lol.

Thought this was really insightful, and from a different angle than what i usually see as the rascist connotations of “tankie” and of western left anti-communism, and thought it deserved its own thread. Particularly, since the influx of western anti-cummunist takes we’ve been dealing with recently.

  • Awoo [she/her]@hexbear.netEnglish
    17·
    2 years ago

    This is a good fucking take and plays into the point I keep making of the nationalist/internationalist issue surrounding this mess. It definitely has a nationalist component I’m completely with @axont@hexbear.net on this.

    • axont [she/her, comrade/them]@hexbear.netEnglish
      6·
      2 years ago

      Yeah I’ve been trying to see the term “tankie” as an obfuscated way of saying “traitor” recently. It’s not a word that applies to people actually from socialist countries most of the time, it’s what someone from the imperial core gets called if they express admiration for the scary foreign places.

      Also hello everyone! Sorry I’m not used to attention like this thread lol

        • axont [she/her, comrade/them]@hexbear.netEnglish
          1·
          2 years ago

          Tankie itself is decades old. It was initially used by British Trotskyites to refer to other British communists who were in favor of the USSR using tanks to quell the 1956 Hungarian uprising.

          Personally I think tankie will just get replaced with being called a communist/commie/pinko again. I think we only have a few more years until western liberals realize they’re not actually socialists and begin outright identifying as willing capitalist subjects on the side of imperialism.

          Being called a communist will carry with it the implication that you’re a traitor to western civilization or whatever. The nationalist brainwork will become explicit rather than hidden under layers.

          Derogatory political terms don’t like having nuance. Tankie is currently too nuanced. It’s used to mean “I’m a socialist but not like those scary, other socialists who like bad countries like China.” Derogatory political terms just want to mean “bad thing”

    • Nakoichi [they/them]@hexbear.netMEnglish
      4·
      2 years ago

      This is a better elaboration on that post I made on that 196 thread that got removed and I presume kicked off this whole discussion.

  • mazdak [any]@hexbear.netEnglish
    9·
    2 years ago

    ‘Tankie’ has been somewhat effective in that its associated Marxists with right wing Russian nationalists and weirdo online cults like ‘maga-communism’. This doesn’t matter because reddit doesn’t matter, but if it somehow makes the jump to mainstream consciousness it could potentially be damaging. With increasing crises and declining living standards more people are going to be looking for alternative narratives to the one liberals offer. If Marxism is associated with social conservatism in particular, most people won’t give it a second look.

  • Infamousblt [any]@hexbear.netEnglish
    9·
    2 years ago

    I wear tankie as a badge of honor honestly. If someone calls me a tankie it’s usually because they’re already owned and they’ve run out of steam. They call me a tankie because they’ve already lost. It’s at that moment that they think they’ve taken back the upper hand but it’s all a ruse. They fell for it. They left themselves open. And that’s when you hit em with the PIGPOOPBALLS

  • Tankiedesantski [he/him]@hexbear.netEnglish
    8·
    2 years ago

    There are already racialized versions of political slurs for Chinese and Russians. Anyone who professes a positive opinion of China, no matter how true or mild, is a “Wumao” and the same for Russia is a “Vatnik”.

    Both can also be “bots” because no human could ever think well of those places. Also probably projection for the fact that much of this sentiment is probably coming from a huge US astroturfing operation operating out of Elgin Airforce Base.

  • ghosts [he/him]@hexbear.netEnglish
    5·
    2 years ago

    Tankie is such an evolving term, but I generally see it used on Lemmy as a pejorative toward Marxist-Leninists by liberals who think they’re utopian ultra-leftists. Stay tuned for more info as the story evolves.

    • Awoo [she/her]@hexbear.netEnglish
      7·
      2 years ago

      Is it evolving?

      I don’t think it’s evolved much if at all. They started using it to refer to MLs to do anticommunism and then they muddied the water of its anticommunist intentions by using it on anyone that says anything left of liberal. It is still strictly an anticommunist tool deployed to harm MLs though.

      Its deployment is solely focused on anything that transcends the nationalist barrier. You can be anticapitalist as long as you’re a nationalist because your nationalism will result in your opposition to China and to all countries labelled as “authoritarian”. In essence, the nationalism people hold results in these people conforming to the propaganda of western states. Anyone who is an internationalist though? They’re a tankie. Because once they cross that line from nationalism to internationalism they become far harder for the western state propaganda to reach.

      The goal is to make the new wave of anticapitalist baby-leftists into national chauvinists, maintaining the state’s grip on them through media propaganda and thus the west’s foreign policy remains protected. They don’t give a fuck about their anticapitalist intentions if they’re solely nationalist because they can control them due to the bourgeoise-state.

      What they’re afraid of is a mass awakening in terms of internationalism.

      • PeoplesRepublicOfNewEngland [he/him]@hexbear.netEnglish
        1·
        2 years ago

        The goal is to make the new wave of anticapitalist baby-leftists into national chauvinists, maintaining the state’s grip on them through media propaganda and thus the west’s foreign policy remains protected.

        “National socialists,” you might say

  • Twink [none/use name]@hexbear.netEnglish
    2·
    2 years ago

    I have two tank tops. I want more but they’re so randomly sized. One M-L squeezes me too tightly, another M is so loose it’s like a parachute. I do like tank tops under open button ups. Does tankie mean you like tank tops? I guess I’m one hella of a tankie then. ;3

    • OCRBot@lemmygrad.mlBEnglish
      3·
      2 years ago
      Body image 1 text

      Way too many times I’ve been talking with someone who called me a tankie, and I ask them why it seems like China and Vietnam have such high approval for their respective states. That’s when it starts coming out. They’ll say communism is just a better fit for their culture, or that the people there are more easily brainwashed, or that the approval ratings are all lies. It’s so racist and disgusting. ^ 7

      URL image text

      axont [any,they/them] &3 7 • / 7 hours ago The only common thread I’ve noticed is that it always refers to an imperial core person admiring something foreign. You’re somehow not a tankie if you’re actually from China and you’re a Marxist- Leninist. In that case you’re just an authoritarian. But if you’re from Canada and you say nice things about China? Then you’re a tankie. There’s some kind of nationalist brainworm built into the term. There’s some kind of conception that foreigners just do socialism incorrectly, but white people can do it properly through…I don’t know, voting every 4 years, or begging for it nicely or making a utopian settlement in the woods. But if you’re a white person who wants revolutionary socialism, you’ve allowed scary foreign devils to pollute your mind and you’re a tankie now. Telling liberals that being a “tankie” is the overwhelmingly most normal position for communists worldwide shortcircuits their brains. They can only conceive of three types of communists: Idiot white teenagers from imperialist countries, cynical dictators, and brainwashed foreigners who can’t think properly because they’re foreign.

      This action was performed by a bot.