Saw some posts about .ml today and thought I'd jump on the bandwagon lol
this post was submitted on 23 Dec 2025
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What the hell are tankies?
Folks who approve of the authoritarian methods used to enforce their vision of the left.
Tank diplomacy was what the “auth left” did/does to maintain control.
So calling someone a tankie is a derogatory term for someone who espouses leftist ideals but also is down for some authoritarian action.
My understanding is that it specifically is a reference to the tanks at the Tianenmen Square massacre.
The tanks at the Tianenmen square massacre are an example of tank diplomacy, but it was the Soviets who did it time and time again when there was any sense of uprising.
Tankies were British communists originally, called that as they fell lockstep in with the Soviet ideology and the Soviets were the “tank diplomacists”
Some of the first uses of the term are from the mid 50s in relation to supporters of the suppression in Hungary.
It's specifically a reference to the tanks USSR sent to Hungary in 1956 and the events of Prague Spring in 1968, though Tianenmen Square fits the bill too.
They just can't help crushing someone with tanks.