a drawing of a person wearing a balaclava and holding a gun with the text “all my homies hate tankies” :3

  • ZombiFrancis@sh.itjust.works
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    3 months ago

    I remember a time when tankies were just the militant leftists that would literally and physically punch nazis. That was pretty much the only qualification required, anarchist or communist: if you were willing to do violence on a nazi you were the tankie and it didn’t require some stance on NATO geopolitics.

      • ZombiFrancis@sh.itjust.works
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        2 months ago

        I just remember that’s what we called the de-facto bouncers at the bar I used to frequent. Whom I witnessed remove a few nazis. (The bar was not too far from the greyhound station that supplied a frequent supply of tan jumpsuits.) But this was right after Occupy Wall Street, so ancient history.

          • spujb@lemmy.cafe
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            2 months ago

            this is interesting. so sometime between the Communist Party of Great Britain and 2017 the word devolved to mean “nazi puncher”, then returned to its roots as describing authoritarian communists? am i getting that right?/gen

            i have never seen firsthand that nazi punching usage. i have only know it to describe authoritarian communists