tankie
[tangk-ee]
What does tankie mean?
A tankie is a leftist political insult for a communist who defends Stalinism or supports authoritarian or militaristic, anti-capitalist regimes.
Where does tankie come from?
Tankie began as an insult for members of the Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB), who supported the Soviet Union’s response to the Hungarian Revolution (1956) and the Prague Spring in Czechoslovakia (1968). Suffice to say, the Soviet response involved tanks. Thus the term tankie, which perhaps draws on earlier uses of tankie (or tanky) for a tank driver or a member of a tank unit. The term was recorded as early as 1983 in Marxism Today, the CPGB’s magazine from 1957–91.
https://twitter.com/NotWoofers/status/1120334075322150918
Tankie spread in the 1980s as the Cold War dragged on. Though the Soviet Union dissolved in 1991, tankie stuck around, evolving as an insult for a Stalinist or Soviet apologist. I.e., a leftist who defends the aggressive and inhumane actions of the Soviet Union (especially under Joseph Stalin), like the famine-genocide in Ukraine 1932–33.
In the 2000s, tankie further spread in leftist internet slang as an insult for a militaristic anti-capitalist, as well as a term for performative Communism more generally.
https://twitter.com/EIWBM_Cat/status/1120572498867781632
Examples of tankie
If you tankies love Stalin so much WHY DON't You MARRY HIM HA!
At that point, we all loved Gramsci and Red Bologna, where the Italian Communist party held power: the fun kind of communism, not the “tankie” Stalinist kind.
Who uses tankie?
In leftist communities online, tankie is an insult for people seen as defending ruthless Communist authoritarians like Stalin.
https://twitter.com/firemanlala/status/927995149757632512
It can also attack such people for supporting militaristic Communism or opposition to the United States more generally.
https://twitter.com/Jamie_Mac_v5/status/1116289108832346113
https://twitter.com/angel_faced/status/1115650518016245761
NOTE
This is not meant to be a formal definition of tankie like most terms we define on Dictionary.com, but is rather an informal word summary that hopefully touches upon the key aspects of the meaning and usage of tankie that will help our users expand their word mastery.
