Anti-communism has always been a reaction to communism (leftist movements broadly).
Anyone who unironically uses the word tankie... ever... is immediately written off in my book. They're terminally online and have never read anything, never thought about anything seriously, they're useful idiots for fascists at best and, a lot of times, just fascists.
I feel like they think I'm being hyperbolic or forcing a false dichotomy, but, no, if you self-label as anti-communist that's basically the same as modern day "all lives matter" people which was a right wing, reactionary, movement against the movement for justice for black people in the US. There is a movement which is objectively on the side of people, justice, etc. and there is a reaction to that movement. Just how it goes. If you identify on the reactionary side... well, there you go. Not sure why this is so complicated for the "bBUT TANKIES" dipshits.
If they use it to mean "person who doesn't get bogged down in stupid details over the USSR (or China) just for the sake of hating a communist country" then fine. I don't care. It just gets old seeing it used as "person left of me, which means they're bad" by the most historically illiterate motherfuckers on the planet. The kind of fuckers who say they want socialism and then cry every time someone protests in a street. Do you see what I mean? It's not the word, I don't care in the end. I get like a death threat per day from random Nazis who (ironically) call me antisemitic for criticizing Israel. I'll take tankie over that, given the choice. But it's worth acknowledging the people calling me or us or whoever "tankie" are absolutely just the dumbest fuckers online. That's all.
This one seems a little less dumb than most. I think they're close to connecting the dots. They seem to realise that something is deeply wrong with their worldview and it is making them very angry so they're lashing out at what they perceive to be the cause ("Tankies" ruining socialism). I don't think I was too clear with them, certainly not patient enough, but I do hope they listen anyway.
Yeah, I don't think they will come away from this with anything other than "redfash tankies hate the truth! I owned them so hard!" But I think this will be another straw on the camel's back, not the one that breaks it, but will add to the load of doubts their have about their worldview.
"Tankie" is used by liberals and left anti-communists to defame & differentiate themselves from principled communists, and really from anyone who defends AES states. That use is cringe and outs the person saying it as an absolute tool who shouldn't be taken seriously.
I have no problem calling myself a tankie though. Sending tanks to kill fascists is good. Every tankie should be awarded their own tank.
Or, to put it another way: socialism has powerful enemies. Those enemies don’t care how you feel about Marx or Makhno or Deleuze or communism in the abstract, they care about your feelings towards FARC, the Naxals, Cuba, North Korea, etc. They care about your position with respect to states and contenders-for-statehood, and how likely you are to try and emulate them. They are not worried about the molecular and the rhizomatic because they know that those things can be brought back into line by the application of force. It’s their monopoly on force that they are primarily concerned to protect. When you desert real socialism in favor of ideal socialism, the kind that never took up arms against anybody, you’re doing them a favor.
They're terminally online and have never read anything, never thought about anything seriously, they're useful idiots for fascists at best and, a lot of times, just fascists.
Most self aware tankie.
, if you self-label as anti-communist
Anti-tankie ≠ anti-communist
Tankies aren't communists, that's why I'm against them.
EDIT: I didn't realise this was a Lemmygrad community. No wonder y'all fascists are calling me a liberal despite me being a communist, I was confused for a second.
Bro, wtf is a tankie if not a communist? You're just out here making up bullshit. I want a definition!
I've been led to believe "tankie" was referring to fans of the USSR, which, I suppose if you wanna be annoying, one could argue "weren't communists." But you didn't do that. You didn't say "Stalin betrayed Marxist Leninism" or whatever. I could assume that's what you meant, but I'd rather read it from you.
It's starting to feel like, to me, that tankie just means "someone more left than me, and that makes me angry!" Because I can say who isn't calling people tankies. That would be Marxists of whatever variety. I can also say who does seem to be using that word all the time... socdems, liberals, sometimes outright fascists. It definitely seems to be the bludgeon of liberals who fancy themselves to be socialists though. I'm going to include most leftist anarchists under the umbrella of liberal because that's just how I roll. Like a big ol' tank.
Why would I waste time making complex responses to someone who thinks communists are liberals if they don't praise capitalist dictatorships? Tankies completely lack political culture, like all right wingers. It's a miracle they can read at all.
We know you aren't "wasting time" because you don't have any arguments, just thought terminating cliches. I'm really hoping you're just an edgy 14 year old and not a grown adult, because this is just sad.
Bruh, people here are calling communists and anarchists "liberals". How do I even argue with dumb shit like this? Fascists can't be reasoned with, whether they like the 3rd Reich or the DPRK.
They're not calling communists and anarchists liberals, they're calling liberals liberals. Fascism doesn't mean "people I don't agree with" words actually mean things. You'd know this, if you weren't a liberal, even if you don't think you are one. Conservatives are liberals too, as liberalism is the dominant political idea in the west.
You might "believe" in it, but what actions have you done to accomplish it? How do you intend to go about it? Peacefully, I'm assuming? Because to use violence is authoritarian redfash tankie, yes?
So I want you to ask your landlord nicely and peacefully, to give up their property, entirely without violence, see how that goes, just convince them it's wrong, that'll work, right? They just don't know that it's a bad thing! We "tankies" don't like violence, but we recognize it as an unfortunate necessity to help the struggling and the downtrodden.
Or is this not about that? Is this about evil authoritarians like Stalin and Mao? I'm assuming you're a yank, or at least live in the west. You've grown up in a capitalist education system. Where did you learn that these people are bad? Which group of people ensures that every student in the west learns that these people are bad? Don't you think the capitalists would have a vested interest in trying to convince people that any alternative to capitalism is even worse than it? Could it be that the things you've heard about "communist dictators" are just lies?
Don't know why I'm wasting my time to be honest. I hope you'll think on this, but I know you won't. Smug ignorance is far more comfortable than challenging your pre-concieved notions.
How do you intend to go about it? Peacefully, I’m assuming? Because to use violence is authoritarian redfash tankie, yes?
Violence isn't bed per se; it's just a means to an end. It should be a last resort, but since capitalists have made it clear that they will not give up their system peacefully, it is necessary in order to remove them from power. Non-violence is a liberal lie spread to ensure no one challenges the status quo, hence why they gave themself the state monopoly on violence.
(note: I'm using "liberal" here to mean "liberal", not "actual leftist" like it's commonly seen in tankie circles)
I’m assuming you’re a yank, or at least live in the west.
I'm French.
You’ve grown up in a capitalist education system. Where did you learn that these people are bad? Which group of people ensures that every student in the west learns that these people are bad? Don’t you think the capitalists would have a vested interest in trying to convince people that any alternative to capitalism is even worse than it?
True. However, school specifically focused on the USSR and the eastern bloc in general, which was a genocidal dictatorship (this is an objective truth all historians agree with). Other alternatives to capitalism were not talked about much, if at all.
Could it be that the things you’ve heard about “communist dictators” are just lies?
Could it be that the things *you’*ve heard about “communist dictators” are just lies? You're not immune to Russian and Chinese propaganda.
Don’t know why I’m wasting my time to be honest. I hope you’ll think on this, but I know you won’t. Smug ignorance is far more comfortable than challenging your pre-concieved notions.
Same. You'll never convince me I'm a liberal (because I'm not), and I'll never convince you I'm an actual communist and you're not (because anyone who supports genocidal imperialistic dictatorships isn't a leftist).
Ok, let me try one last time. Every single "tankie" here was in the same position you are now. Every one of us believed everything we were told about the horrors of the USSR and China and Cuba, any and all socialist states. We aren't being "brainwashed" by another country on the other side of the planet, we have tried to understand these places better, of our own accord. And what we've found is that while these places are not perfect, they are grossly misrepresented in the west. The capitalists want you to hate socialism and socialist states, they don't care if you call yourself a socialist or not while you do so. Your anti-communism, sorry, anti-tankieism is indistinguishable from any western liberal who says "socialism works in theory but in practice it just leads to evil dictators." How are you actually different from them if you believe everything they do about socialism? How are you actually a socialist if actual socialists disagree with you and liberals agree with you instead?
Please, if you consider yourself a socialist, read theory, seek to learn, to understand, rather than just trying to dismiss people because their position frustrates you. The ruling class in the west wants us to fight amongst ourselves and what you're doing right now is exactly what they want from people. People who wear socialism like a T-shirt. People who don't learn about it, don't try to understand it, don't try to actually create a socialist state because it is seen as "authoritarian." I know it makes you mad when we call you a liberal. It should, and I'm sorry for that, but your are behaving exactly like one right now. I don't think you're a bad person, I just think you're being corralled into a capitalist friendly version of socialism, which is impotent and ineffectual. "Leftcoms" if you'd rather not be called a liberal, have been criticised for their inability to accomplish anything for over a century. Is that really how you want your "communism" to be? Just a bunch of empty impotent, impractical ideas and denunciations of those who did something, who improved things, flawed as they may be, because they weren't perfect? Do you really want to sit around your whole life with your thumb up your ass waiting for "perfect" socialism to arrive?
Please, read theory, Lenin especially. Your ideas are not new ones, they are very old hat, even cliche at this point, one of the oldest means of stifling communism was to corral it into "safe" versions which denounced all attempts at socialist experiments.
I'd recommend this work in particular, but if you're a lib, it won't interest you, I know how much libs hate learning new things: https://www.marxist.com/classics-marxism-two-book/left-wing-communism-an-infantile-disorder.htm