Tankie

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Tankie is an often derogatory label used to describe Marxist-Leninists or socialists. The definition of said label is very loose, as it has been used as a pejorative for people who merely criticize foreign policy decisions of imperial core nations and the bourgeois media's coverage of such events, to proponents of specific kinds of anti-capitalist thought (such as Marxist-Leninists who support modern China), and it is often used in context of whoever speaks it. Despite the term being derogatory, some Marxist-Leninists use the term ironically, and even utilise it in their names such as the Discord server Tankie Bunker.

Origins

'Tankie' was originally used in context of the Hungarian counter-revolution of 1956, which described the pro-Soviet people living in Hungary as 'Tankies', because the Soviets brought tanks into Hungary in order to stop the counter-revolution.

Uses in Western media

On October 16, 2021, the New York Times published an article which used the word 'Tankie' for the first time.[1]

See Also

References

  1. “On the left now you see several impulses. There is an irrelevant but fascinating fringe of very online “tankies””

    Ross Douthat (2021-10-16). "James Bond Has No Time for Chinas" New York Times. Archived from the original.