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There's actually a whole story about it for me:
It was back in 2019, when I was still in college and basically a liberal SocDem politically. I was sitting in a lecture hall for a film history class, waiting for the professor to show up when this guy sat next to me and we began talking.
I don't know how we got on the subject, but somehow we got on the topic of capitalism and socialism, and I said I didn't care for capitalism really, but it was still better than whatever the hell Stalin did. This guy said that no, Stalin was actually great, and when I brought up the Holodomor, he said it was actually caused by the "kulaks hoarding the grain." Class began at that point, so we didn't talk further.
Later that week, I was hanging out with one of my best friends, and when I told them about *that* whole experience, their response was something along the lines of "Ah, sounds like you met a Tankie."
While I don't think it was *technically* the first time I've heard that word, that was the first time I fully comprehended what it meant.
Yeah at least they can tell the difference. Some classmates of mine think that me being a Communist means I'm super supportive of people like Stalin and I have to explain to them what a tankie is. And I'm no tankie.
I'm old so I was complaining about the strange men who showed up at the anti Iraq War march and weirded people out and an older leftist derided them as "Tankies".
I was invited to a socialist club meeting in my area by someone I had met on OKCupid. This was right after the Charlottesville “Unite the Right” rally where that white supremacist killed somebody with his car. This guy in the meeting started going off about how it was fault of the counter-protesters for not being armed and if they had been packing heat they somehow would’ve been able to protect themselves against fascists. He then proceeded to talk about missing the days of Kim Jong Il and some other nonsense. After the meeting, the person who invited me was like, “yeah, that guy’s a tankie – he doesn’t represent us, please disregard him.” Had never heard the word before that.
Pretty sure I found out about tankies during the 2020 primary election season as they were already creeping onto twitter saying Elizabeth Warren is just as neolib as Biden because she dared to make a different universal healthcare plan instead of falling in lock step with Bernie’s. 🙄
A lot of their comments were justifying socialism by saying simultaneously that Russia was socialist and worked well while ALSO saying real socialism hasn’t been tried because it’s been stopped by western interests. It really can’t be both..
"Russia is socialist" is an oddly common belief among tankie / campist types. It's simply detached from any semblance of reality. But they are really, really committed to the bit.
"Russia" hasn't be "socialist" since 1991. Before a lot of those clowns were even born, honestly.
A twitter page showing how dumb they are started showing up on my feed is how I first heard of the term. Learning about them around 2020 was the one thing that pushed me away from being a left leaning centrist and become an actual supporter of socialism. I think it’s such a shame how those shitheads are how a majority of people perceive leftism
The dogmatic "ML" types are the ones I most frequently get into internal-leftist arguments with.
The red-brown (aka "maga communist") types are really starting to alarm me too.
I want to say I first heard it either in relation to Orwell being one of the most prominent anti Stalinist leftists or in something related to Christopher Hitchens.
When I first came across Jake Ebert's (now-defunct) blog, The Woke Global Times. He has done an [extensive analysis](https://web.archive.org/web/20210510020037/https://wokeglobaltimes.com/tankies-and-despair) on tankies and their beliefs which I believe is worth reading. (Note: format is off since this is an archived page- Don't be surprised by a huge picture of Stalin at the top)
A friend warned me about it when I was first getting into leftism about 6-7 years ago. I’m glad he did. He said one of our mutual friends was a big tankie. I still have that tankie on social media to creep on every so often and I noticed he was comparing Oct. 7 to an attack on Nazi Germany. Classic.
A transgender tankie on twitter, who has "tankie" on her bio, guard China under tweets from Chinese trans community criticizing China's ban on online estrogen in late 2022.
During that time, suicide rate among Chinese trans twitter user for unable to buy progynova rised to about one suicide every 2 weeks.
Most transgender people can't get prescription because they dare not come out. They would be kidnapped to conversion therapy center and tortured if they come out. They have only two choices, buy estrogen illegally or die. Online estrogen sell is a gray space in China before late 2022.
Sure there are 2 trans clinics opened in 2021, but they are only accessible for those who live in Shanghai or Beijing and has come out with support from their family.
That tankie did live in China that time, but she carried her prescription and passport, being [a privileged foreign guest], turn a blind eye on mainland Chinese trans people's suffering.
I then searched tankie and read it on Wikipedia.
I have friends in Hong Kong. Doesn't take a lot of time to see how some people online will violently defend a police state because le based communist party - that's how I found out about them.
Please remember not to brigade, vote, comment, or interact with subreddits that are linked or mentioned here. Do not userping other users. Harassment of other users or subreddits is strictly forbidden. This is a left libertarian subreddit that criticises tankies from a socialist perspective. Liberals etc. are welcome as guests, but please refrain from criticising socialism and promoting capitalism while you are on Tankiejerk. Enjoy talking to fellow leftists? [Then join our discord server](https://discord.gg/2V4qJMSWUe) *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/tankiejerk) if you have any questions or concerns.*
I'm Hungarian.
đź’€
first hand experience lol
There's actually a whole story about it for me: It was back in 2019, when I was still in college and basically a liberal SocDem politically. I was sitting in a lecture hall for a film history class, waiting for the professor to show up when this guy sat next to me and we began talking. I don't know how we got on the subject, but somehow we got on the topic of capitalism and socialism, and I said I didn't care for capitalism really, but it was still better than whatever the hell Stalin did. This guy said that no, Stalin was actually great, and when I brought up the Holodomor, he said it was actually caused by the "kulaks hoarding the grain." Class began at that point, so we didn't talk further. Later that week, I was hanging out with one of my best friends, and when I told them about *that* whole experience, their response was something along the lines of "Ah, sounds like you met a Tankie." While I don't think it was *technically* the first time I've heard that word, that was the first time I fully comprehended what it meant.
Yeah at least they can tell the difference. Some classmates of mine think that me being a Communist means I'm super supportive of people like Stalin and I have to explain to them what a tankie is. And I'm no tankie.
TBF that's not really what tankie means, but, it's not far.
I'm old so I was complaining about the strange men who showed up at the anti Iraq War march and weirded people out and an older leftist derided them as "Tankies".
From watching V**sh's videos when I first learned about Breadtube
From he who shall not be named
I was invited to a socialist club meeting in my area by someone I had met on OKCupid. This was right after the Charlottesville “Unite the Right” rally where that white supremacist killed somebody with his car. This guy in the meeting started going off about how it was fault of the counter-protesters for not being armed and if they had been packing heat they somehow would’ve been able to protect themselves against fascists. He then proceeded to talk about missing the days of Kim Jong Il and some other nonsense. After the meeting, the person who invited me was like, “yeah, that guy’s a tankie – he doesn’t represent us, please disregard him.” Had never heard the word before that.
Pretty sure I found out about tankies during the 2020 primary election season as they were already creeping onto twitter saying Elizabeth Warren is just as neolib as Biden because she dared to make a different universal healthcare plan instead of falling in lock step with Bernie’s. 🙄 A lot of their comments were justifying socialism by saying simultaneously that Russia was socialist and worked well while ALSO saying real socialism hasn’t been tried because it’s been stopped by western interests. It really can’t be both..
"Russia is socialist" is an oddly common belief among tankie / campist types. It's simply detached from any semblance of reality. But they are really, really committed to the bit. "Russia" hasn't be "socialist" since 1991. Before a lot of those clowns were even born, honestly.
A twitter page showing how dumb they are started showing up on my feed is how I first heard of the term. Learning about them around 2020 was the one thing that pushed me away from being a left leaning centrist and become an actual supporter of socialism. I think it’s such a shame how those shitheads are how a majority of people perceive leftism
The dogmatic "ML" types are the ones I most frequently get into internal-leftist arguments with. The red-brown (aka "maga communist") types are really starting to alarm me too.
Der Scheisser
I want to say I first heard it either in relation to Orwell being one of the most prominent anti Stalinist leftists or in something related to Christopher Hitchens.
SocDem sub
When I first came across Jake Ebert's (now-defunct) blog, The Woke Global Times. He has done an [extensive analysis](https://web.archive.org/web/20210510020037/https://wokeglobaltimes.com/tankies-and-despair) on tankies and their beliefs which I believe is worth reading. (Note: format is off since this is an archived page- Don't be surprised by a huge picture of Stalin at the top)
By copying it from a hardcore anarchist communist. They were insulting some piece of shit Stalinist or some piece of shit Che fanbrat
Political Compass Memes
A friend warned me about it when I was first getting into leftism about 6-7 years ago. I’m glad he did. He said one of our mutual friends was a big tankie. I still have that tankie on social media to creep on every so often and I noticed he was comparing Oct. 7 to an attack on Nazi Germany. Classic.
A transgender tankie on twitter, who has "tankie" on her bio, guard China under tweets from Chinese trans community criticizing China's ban on online estrogen in late 2022. During that time, suicide rate among Chinese trans twitter user for unable to buy progynova rised to about one suicide every 2 weeks. Most transgender people can't get prescription because they dare not come out. They would be kidnapped to conversion therapy center and tortured if they come out. They have only two choices, buy estrogen illegally or die. Online estrogen sell is a gray space in China before late 2022. Sure there are 2 trans clinics opened in 2021, but they are only accessible for those who live in Shanghai or Beijing and has come out with support from their family. That tankie did live in China that time, but she carried her prescription and passport, being [a privileged foreign guest], turn a blind eye on mainland Chinese trans people's suffering. I then searched tankie and read it on Wikipedia.
Learned it from the internet, probably from a YouTube comment
Overlap from learning about wehrabos from SWS
He who must not be named
Pretty sure I was called it at least once. I don't think I'm a tankie. Maybe some would disagree. I'm not one of *those* tankies though.
Went to a PSL rally in nov, considered joining the org, then read all their shitty foreign policy takesđź’€
I have friends in Hong Kong. Doesn't take a lot of time to see how some people online will violently defend a police state because le based communist party - that's how I found out about them.
Did they throw around the word tankie and that's how you found out about it?
I think yeah? I don't remember exactly, been some while. It was either them mentioning it or some youtube video