Tankie

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For other uses, see Tankie (disambiguation).

Red Army T-54 tanks in Budapest, 1956.

Tankie is a pejorative label for communists, particularly Stalinists, who support the authoritarian tendencies of Marxism–Leninism. The term was originally used by dissident and sectarian 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.[1]

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."[2] 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."[3]

According to The Guardian, "tankie" has re-emerged as internet slang for Stalinists, used by other leftist Marxists.[4] According to Vice, the contemporary expression is particularly popular among young democratic socialists.[5] 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.[6]

Usage[]

"Tankie" has its origins in British political rhetoric. It has since become a popular pejorative in English-language social media.[7]

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.[8][9] Journalist Peter Paterson asked Amalgamated Engineering Union official Reg Birch about his election to the CPGB Executive after the Hungarian invasion in 1956:

When I asked him how he could possibly have sided with the "tankies", so called because of the use of Russian tanks to quell the revolt, he said "they wanted a trade unionist who could stomach Hungary, and I fitted the bill."[10][11]

The support of the invasion of Hungary was disastrous for the party's reputation in Britain.[1] The CPGB opposed the invasion in Czechoslovakia in 1968, though a hardline faction supported it.

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,[12] 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:

MAX: Marxism Today? It's not so much the Eurocommunism. In the end it was the mail order gifts thing. I couldn't take the socks with little hammers and sickles on them.

STEPHEN: Well, Read the Morning Star and keep up with the Tankies.

MAX: The Tankies ... How the years roll by. Dubcek is back. Russia agrees to withdraw its garrisons. Czechoslovakia takes her knickers off for capitalism. And all that remains of August '68 is a derisive nickname for the only real communists left in the Communist Party.[13]

The term is sometimes used within the UK 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 [David Miliband] looked aghast ... [Blair] said when it came to education, DM and I were just a couple of old tankies."[14] 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).[15]

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 totalitarian 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."[7]

See also[]

References[]

  1. ^ a b Stephen Drive Understanding British Party Politics, p. 154
  2. ^ Paterson, Tony (6 February 2014). "Hard-line Czech communist Vasil Bilak dies: Last surviving 'tankie' who supported 1968 invasion of his own country by Soviet Union passes away at 96". The Independent. Retrieved 11 August 2020.
  3. ^ Petterson, Christina (2020). Apostles of Revolution? Marxism and Biblical Studies. Brill. p. 11. ISBN 978-9004432208.
  4. ^ Rickett, Oscar (23 October 2017). "From latte socialist to gauche caviar – how to spot good-time leftwingers around the world". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 23 August 2020.
  5. ^ Pearl, Mike (11 November 2018). "How a Real Class War, Like with Guns, Could Actually Happen". Vice. Retrieved 11 August 2020.
  6. ^ Andersen, Sebastian Skov; Chan, Thomas. "Tankie Man: The Pro-Democracy Hong Kongers Standing Up to Western Communists". thediplomat.com. The Diplomat. Retrieved 29 March 2021.
  7. ^ a b Andersen, Sebastian Skov; Chan, Thomas. "Tankie Man: The Pro-Democracy Hong Kongers Standing Up to Western Communists". thediplomat.com. The Diplomat. Retrieved 8 November 2021.
  8. ^ See for instance, The Scottish Labour Party: History, Institutions and Ideas, Gerry Hassan, Edinburgh University Press, 2004 p220-22 for an account of the CPGB's influence in Scottish trades unionism
  9. ^ See also Trade Union Merger Strategies:Purpose, Process, and Performance: Purpose, Process, and Performance, Roger Undy Oxford University Press, 2008 p178
  10. ^ How Much More of This, Old Boy-- ?: Scenes from a Reporter's Life, Peter Paterson p. 181
  11. ^ Reg Birch's hardline attitudes later led him to split away from the CPGB to form a pro-Albanian Maoist party.
  12. ^ Tom Stoppard: Bucking the Postmodern, Daniel K. Jernigan 2012 p187
  13. ^ Rock 'n' roll, Tom Stoppard, Faber and Faber, 2006, p79
  14. ^ Campbell, Alastair (2010). Diaries. Volume 1, Prelude to power. London: Hutchinson. p. 301. ISBN 9780091797263.
  15. ^ Watt, Nicholas (5 October 2015). "Boris Johnson: Jeremy Corbyn and Labour left are 'tankies and trots'". The Guardian. Retrieved 11 August 2020.
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