this post was submitted on 22 Feb 2026
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TankieJerk
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Dunking on Tankies from a leftist, anti-capitalist perspective.
Rules:
- No bigotry of any kind.
- No tankies or right-wingers. Liberals are allowed so long as they are aware of this
- No genocide or atrocity denial
We allow posts about tankie behavior, shitposts, and rational, leftist discussion. Please redirect any Fediverse tankie-posts to !MeanwhileOnGrad@sh.itjust.works to avoid bringing drama to Piefed.social
Curious about non-tankie leftism? If you've got a little patience for 19th century academic style, let a little Marx and Kropotkin be your primer!
Marx's Communist Manifesto, short and accessible! Highly recommended if you haven't read it
For a wider variety of leftist memes, see:
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They aren't imaginary, I'm not sure what world you live in but there are definitely a ton on Lemmy.
I'm new here. What's a tankie?
As I understand it: left leaning (usually extreme left) users who idolise the Chinese government. Tankie is a reference to the Tienanmen Square protests and massacre, and specifically to the “tank man”. I’m not sure how that got associated with pro-CPR users though, as the protests were very much against that government.
Edit: check out the replies to my reply for a different and likely more correct explanation.
No, tankie is a reference to Soviets using tanks to quell uprisings in Hungary (1956) and Czechoslovakia (1968).
Tankies are not leftists, they're authoritarian simps that hate the United States and love China/Russia. If you think Russia is leftist you're insane, doubly so for China.
Edit: I also find it funny that the person I'm responding to has had this explanation given to them already.
Edit 2: Ok that may have been an honest mistake, I'm sorry I'm just like a raw nerve when it comes to this topic.
Maybe that person, whoever they are, has amnesia. Or dementia.
Or were just engaging in the thread not paying attention, I'm sure there's a reasonable explanation.
It was actually the Hungarian student rebellion. Young Hungarians wanted to vote out their Soviet puppet leaders and elect new leadership. It's important to point out the leaders they wanted were still communists. The Soviets sent in tanks to crush the movement.
British communists were disgusted by some of their fellow communists that were cheering on this violent oppression and started calling them tankies.
Tankies are on the side of the tank in the tank-man story.
Ah okay that way it makes sense.
And what instance? Because that the nice thing about the lemmyverse. You can choose to talk to other instances, but you can also not.
I don't go to any .ml comms, but .ml bootlickers still come to Piefed and .world comms.
I'm at a point of no tolerance for tankies, and I have a strong sense of needing to set the record straight.
Fuck tankies.
I would personally not fuck anyone I don't like, but do what you want.
A person can be fucked with many things, a great deal of them unpleasant.