this post was submitted on 14 Jan 2026
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MeanwhileOnGrad

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[–] wonderingwanderer@sopuli.xyz 10 points 1 week ago (7 children)

If you take their theory at face value, correct. If you observe their attitudes and actions, you see that they don't really care about implementing those theories. They only discuss them to give themselves a veneer of moral superiority.

Stalin didn't lift the proletariat out of poverty; he merely starved and murdered all the peasants who didn't join his party. He didn't liberate the masses, he implemented a highly oppressive surveillance/police state.

The average anarchist will be the first to try to bully someone into complying with their preferred systems of social order. They only want there to be no government so that nothing can stop them from forcing everyone else to conform to their will.

That's what I mean by "covert" fascist. Nominally leftist, practically not.

[–] Comrade_Spood@quokk.au 7 points 1 week ago (15 children)

Equating anarchists to fascists is genuinely in the top five most stupid fucking political takes I have ever heard in my life. What the fuck do you think anarchists want force on you?

"Fuck these anarchists, they want to get rid of hierarchy and government so I won't have a boot to suck the polish off of." Is what you fucking sound like. The comm is for shitting on tankies. Anarchists are not tankies. Tankie does not mean leftist, it means authoritarian communist.

[–] goat@sh.itjust.works 6 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Anarchists aren't tankies, no. But a shocking amount of them, on Lemmy at least, cosy up with Tankies and even argue in favour of authoritarian states, or defend them. From my experience, the average anarchist hates the liberal more than the tankie, despite the latter being in direct opposition to their principles.

[–] Comrade_Spood@quokk.au 8 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (1 children)

Yes, and I actively distance myself from them. Its why I moved from dbzer0 to quokk.au and from Lemmy to Piefed. Anarchists who cosy up to MLs are naive and fail to learn from a hundred years of history. Anarchism is just as incompatible with statism and authority as it is with capitalism. That is not to say I wont work with liberals and marxists, just that I would never trust them.

[–] goat@sh.itjust.works 6 points 1 week ago (1 children)

that's actually really respectful to your ideals.

why do you think so many anarchists, like those from dbzer0, cosy up to tankies?

[–] Comrade_Spood@quokk.au 7 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Its scary fighting back. You want allies, and many of them so the odds dont feel so impossible. Its hard not to fall into the thinking that capitalism is the bigger threat, so we should work together against the common enemy. "We'll figure out which communism is best after the revolution" is what I often hear. Issue is, looking at history, we get backstabbed before we get to see the end of the revolution. In the end though, its hard not to end up trusting those you spend time working with.

[–] goat@sh.itjust.works 5 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (1 children)

Succinctly said. Personally, I think communists will have a better chance of achieving true communism™ by cosying with liberals and democracy, suggesting socialist and universal systems, pensions, healthcare, transport -- Systems that most democratic nations already have implemented.

It's telling that China, the de facto "communist" state, which isn't exactly Marxist, lacks some of these universal systems, such as healthcare and worker rights and of course, the class disparity.

What I mean is that I don't think an immediate, instantaneous uprising is absolutely necessary to achieve these concepts.

[–] Comrade_Spood@quokk.au 7 points 1 week ago (24 children)

I think anarchists have more in common with communists, the issue is that the kind of communists that dominate the spaces are Marxist-Leninists who are the problem. I would be much more inclined to trust a council communist or a luxemburgist than I am a liberal or an ML. The reason being that (good) statist communists at least agree with anarchists on needing to abolish private property and capitalism, but disagree overmatters regarding the state. Liberals still believe in both capitalism and the state. I do not see a situation where liberals would ever allow anarchists to exist outwardly. I do not see it with MLs either. But I could see a very small chance of it happening if democratic communists (like council communists and luxemburgists) were the dominant force in statist radical left circles. Unfortunately though they are not. So unfortunately anarchists are pretty isolated for allies.

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[–] peoplebeproblems@midwest.social 4 points 1 week ago (9 children)

I don't like a lot of the self-proclaimed anarchists for that specific reason. They give the rest of us a really bad look. They miss the whole point of being anti-authoritarian, anti-heirchical, anti-coercisive, and anti-capitalist.

I understand why they are that way, I'm like 99% sure it's a neurodivergent thing (black-and-white thinking, rejection of authority, failure to recognize social norms, we pretty much all do it to some degree, and some are much more obvious than others).

Like a doctor is an authority on health. Why? Because they earned it. They put their livelihood on the line by licensure and risk to avoid malprat. Governments where only a select few are voted for and the rest of the representation is all because of Republic stances rather than democratic ones are not deserving of authority.

Also, it might be that the anarchists you have met are not anarchists at all. It sounds much more like the communists I know.

[–] goat@sh.itjust.works 6 points 1 week ago

Hey, probably don't blame it 99% on neurodivergence. I'm autistic, and why I do reject authority and struggle with social norms, I don't see people and views in black and white.

[–] wonderingwanderer@sopuli.xyz 5 points 1 week ago (2 children)

it might be that the anarchists you have met are not anarchists at all. It sounds much more like the communists I know.

I can think of one in particular, a very arrogant and loud-mouthed, self-proclaimed anarchist, who if he had his way would force everyone to be vegan.

I understand animal rights, and I myself have been vegetarian for a few years. But if he's truly an anarchist, then how does he expect to enforce veganism on everyone? Just seems cognitively dissonant...

For that matter, how do anarchists plan to stop racists and homophobes from doing racist and homophobic things? It just seems short-sighted, especially from people who profess to be vulnerable minorities. You'd think they would at least want a government that protects them and ensures their equal rights, no?

[–] goat@sh.itjust.works 3 points 1 week ago (1 children)

When you encounter this anarchist, I implore you to question them on how China treats animals. Very curious to see what will happen.

[–] wonderingwanderer@sopuli.xyz 7 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Just some inarticulate posturing and vague implications that I don't know what I'm talking about, probably.

Like when someone else wore a PLA hat and I asked him how many civilians died in the great leap forward, clearly the reason he didn't have an answer was because I was the ignorant one. "Oh, you wanna talk to me about the great leap forward?" Acting all insulted

[–] goat@sh.itjust.works 3 points 1 week ago (1 children)

That's probably how it will go.

I think it's telling that they can't admit their ideology has faults or has made mistakes. It'll never get anywhere.

[–] wonderingwanderer@sopuli.xyz 4 points 1 week ago

They lack self-awareness for sure. I would never follow someone who can't admit when they've been wrong about something.

[–] peoplebeproblems@midwest.social 3 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (14 children)

Yeah as soon as the word "force" comes into play, he's not an anarchist.

A lot of anarchy depends on the concept of equity. If someone in particular is against the equity of his peers, then that individual would likely be kicked out of the collective for violating that tenet.

More than likely, the racist/homophobic individual was never allowed to join the group. If that racist/homophobe was a child raised in the anarchist society and held these views as an adult, then the real question becomes why did that individual form those beliefs if they were intolerable to the group. Action needs to be taken there.

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[–] TubularTittyFrog@lemmy.world 3 points 1 week ago (2 children)

summed up beautifully.

every commie/anarchist I know IRL, and I've known quite a few, are HUGE bullies/assholes, and they tend to only be friends with people they have control over or can intimidate into submission to them. They HATE people who are independent of their mentality and character assassinate them.

It's the typical use of high minded ideals to justify their shitty and hypocritical personal behavior.

[–] peoplebeproblems@midwest.social 4 points 1 week ago (1 children)

That's really more of what I've seen in the communist communities rather than anarchists.

But they too have a tendency of being all or nothing.

The ones who demand "social order" truly aren't anarchist anyway. The whole point of anarchy is to approach an egalitarian community that rejects the idea of unearned authority.

[–] wonderingwanderer@sopuli.xyz 2 points 1 week ago (18 children)

Genuinely curious. How do true anarchists propose to prevent crime syndicates from gaining power and becoming a de facto government, committing extortion, racketeering, and human trafficking?

Or are they just running on the assumption that after the collapse of society, people's appetites for wealth, power, and influence will simply evaporate?

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[–] wonderingwanderer@sopuli.xyz 2 points 1 week ago

Exactly! I'm sorry a tankie got butthurt and downvoted you.

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