Tankie

T-54 tanks of the Soviet Army deployed in response to the Hungarian Revolution of 1956, from which the term "tankie" originated

Tankie is a pejorative label generally applied to authoritarian communists, especially those who support or defend acts of repression by such regimes, their allies, or deny the occurrence of the events thereof. More specifically, the term has been applied to those who express support for Communist states, whether contemporary or historical. It has a history of being used by some anti-authoritarian leftists, anarchists, democratic socialists, and reformists to denounce Stalinism, although the term has seen increasing use by liberal and right‐wing factions as well.

The term "tankie" 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 in defence of the Soviet use of tanks to suppress the Hungarian Revolution of 1956 and the 1968 Prague Spring, or who more broadly adhered to pro-Soviet positions. The term has been extended to describe people who endorse, defend, or deny the actions of communist leaders such as Joseph Stalin and Mao Zedong. In recent times, the term has been used across the political spectrum and in a geopolitical context to accuse individuals of having a bias in favour of current anti-Western authoritarian states; Belarus, Cuba, China, Iran, Nicaragua, North Korea, Russia, Alliance of Sahel States and Houthi-controlled Yemen serve as prevalent examples.

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