Tankie
Tankie is a pejorative label for communists, particularly Stalinists, who support the authoritarian tendencies of Marxism–Leninism. The term was originally used by dissident Marxist–Leninists to describe members of the Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB) who followed the party line of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU). Specifically it was used to distinguish party members who spoke out defending Soviet use of tanks to crush the Hungarian Revolution of 1956 and later the 1968 Prague Spring uprising, or more broadly, those who adhered to pro-Soviet positions in general. The term is also used to  describe people who endorse, defend, or deny mistakes and crimes committed by authoritarian left-wing leaders (e.g. Joseph Stalin, Mao Zedong and Kim il-Sung). Members of the anti-Stalinist left utilize the word to describe those who are perceived to be biased in favour of authoritarian states (e.g. the People's Republic of China and Democratic People's Republic of Korea) that are currently ruled by nominally communist parties. Definition. According to "The Independent", after the Prague Spring, "In Communist Party circles, including those of the British CP, the term tankie was subsequently used to describe those party members  who supported the crushing of the Prague Spring by force of arms." According to Christina Petterson, "Politically speaking, tankies regard past and current socialist systems as legitimate attempts at creating communism, and thus have not distanced themselves from Stalin, China, etc." According to "The Guardian", tankie has re-emerged as internet slang for Stalinists, used by other leftist Marxists. According to "Vice", the contemporary expression is particularly popular among young democratic socialists. Modern tankies generally do not get along with non-Marxist–Leninist segments of the left and many of those who oppose tankies also consider themselves leftists. Usage. Tankie  has its origins in British political rhetoric. It has since become a popular pejorative in English-language social media. Leftist writer Carl Beijer argued in 2017 that there are two distinct uses of the term tankie: the original, which was "exemplified in the sending of tanks into Hungary to crush resistance to Soviet communism. More generally, a tankie is someone who tends to support militant opposition to capitalism", and a more modern online variation which means "something like 'a self-proclaimed communist who indulges in conspiracy theories and whose rhetoric is largely performative, although he was critical of both uses . In the United Kingdom. Tankie originated as a term for British hardline members of the Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB). The Tankie wing of the CPGB was also sometimes called "Stalinist" and was associated with the views of the strong CPGB presence in trades unions. Journalist Peter Paterson asked Amalgamated Engineering Union official Reg Birch about his election to the CPGB Executive after the Hungarian invasion in 1956: The support of the invasion of Hungary was disastrous for the party's reputation in Britain. The CPGB made mild criticisms of Soviet invasion (which they called an "intervention") in Czechoslovakia  in 1968, although a hardline faction supported it, including the Appeal Group who left the party in response. The term continued to be used into the 1980s, especially in relation to the split between the reform-minded "Eurocommunist" wing of the CPGB and the traditionalist, pro-Soviet group, the latter continuing to be labelled tankies. For instance, in the 2006 play "Rock 'n Roll" by the Anglo-Czech author Tom Stoppard, the character Max, based on Eric Hobsbawm, discusses with Stephen what to read to hear what is happening in the Communist Party, after the fall of the Berlin Wall . Their options are "Marxism Today" and the daily newspaper, the "Morning Star": The term is sometimes used within the Labour Party as slang for a politically old fashioned leftist. Alastair Campbell reported a conversation about modernising education, in which Tony Blair "said 'I'm with George Walden on selection'... DM <nowiki>[</nowiki>David Miliband<nowiki>]</nowiki> looked aghast... [Blair] said when it came to education, DM and I were just a couple of old tankies." More pejoratively, in 2015, Boris Johnson referred to Jeremy Corbyn and the left wing of the Labour party as "tankies and trots" (referring  to Trotskyites). Elsewhere. The term tankie has been used in English-language social media to describe communists, particularly those from the West, who uphold the legacies of communist leaders such as Joseph Stalin and Mao Zedong. While generally used pejoratively, "some Marxist–Leninists have even begun wearing the term as a badge of honor." The Taiwanese left-wing magazine "New Bloom" alleges that many modern tankies are members of the Asian diasporas of English-speaking countries. In particular, members of the Chinese diaspora searching for "radical responses" to social ills such as xenophobia against Asians are drawn to tankie discourse . This modern conception of tankie has also been described as "diasporic Chinese nationalism".