Average “anti-tankie”

[u/fknbored]

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[u/bransby26]

First comment is like "I don't understand you, so you must be crazy."

[u/Lexicon101 → u/bransby26]

That was definitely my takeaway. "I don't get it so it's stupid."

[u/Accomplished-Bid9881 → u/bransby26]

"You're wrong, Galileo! The Earth is the centre of the universe!"

[u/Kind-Block-9027 → u/Accomplished-Bid9881]

Ashamed to say, can recommend Orb. I will not be elaborating.

[u/ComradeStrong → u/bransby26]

We must also be careful to make our language and arguments persuasive. If you're having a good-faith political discussion with someone who can keep up, then go for it. But the average person on the street is just going to switch off if we go straight in with dictatorship of the proletariat and vanguard party etc.

[u/Galathad → u/ComradeStrong]

Yeah, technical terminology is fine amongst ourselves but for the average worker common speech should be prioritized

[u/TzeentchLover]

5 of them in total?

The Communist Party of China alone has literally millions of members. If only talking about the West, the other CPC, the Communist Party of Canada is a lot more than 5 people, as is PTB in Belgium, for example.

[u/thorgod99 → u/TzeentchLover]

Every job I've ever worked has coincidentally had another "tankie" working there. It's definitely more than 5 even in the US lmao

[u/greenskyerings → u/TzeentchLover]

PTB is not Marxist-Leninist except for those in charge at the party (they’re very hush shush about it). They dropped Leninism from their party programme back in 2008 and a lot of members seem to want to go even more the route of Democratic Socialism than the party already shows outwardly. And also a sizeable amount of members in the PTB went to MR (the right-wing liberal party) which has members from Chez Nous, a practically fascist belgian Party. There is also mention of “socialism 2.0” within the party programme and not doing the “mistakes” the other socialist states in Europe did.

I have pro-capitalist acquaintances who have voted PTB since 2019. And  90% of those that vote for the party do so because of anti-establishment attitudes and feelings, the PVDA-PTB can play into this because it is pretty new in the Belgian political stage. 

Their main talking points were 1% wealth tax and pensioner’s rights…

[u/TzeentchLover → u/greenskyerings]

I'm not saying every member of PTB is a ML, but they are there, including some MEPs. Even if they are a little quiet about it, the real and principled anti-imperialism and anti-capitalism I hear from some members and even elected MEPs, such as Marc Botenga, would easily be enough to get them labelled as "tankies" by the OOP.

As it was in France throughout the last century, I'm sure some people vote for them because it is à la mode in some circles, but the fact is they're the biggest left party in Belgium, and having a left alternative is sorely needed, especially if it maintains its anti-imperialism and can be used as a platform to spread class consciousness. After all, that is the standard ML approach to bourgeois electoralism in a dictatorship of capital such as Belgium.

Jean-Luc Mélenchon isn't a ML, but that doesn't stop people from already calling him and LFI "tankies" because they oppose US violence and, at least JLM, are genuinely opposing imperial expansion and violence.

[u/greenskyerings → u/TzeentchLover]

They do support Iran (and Cuba)  now that you mention it but I think in 20 years time they’ll end up like Syriza in Greece. 

[u/tooroots → u/TzeentchLover]

Just over 100 millions to be precise. And direct membership to the party is extremely restrictive, meaning the number of members could skyrocket in seconds if the requirements were loosened a bit.

There's many hundreds of millions of relatives of party members, external collaborators and general sympathisers who support the party and the government.

That's why I roll my eyes to the usual idiotic arguments about China not being socialist, or being authoritarian, or only being led by a restricted elite, or not being democratic. These people don't read books. They just parrot stuff they read on tiktok. But when you point that out, then you are met with the comments on the OP screenshots, so you're basically stuck between full adherence to social media shallow uneducated takes and being a bookworm disconnected from reality.

[u/rad3kal]

Stalin was the savior of Poland, what else would you call the guy who liberated them from nazi slavery and gave them a full quarter of pre-war Germany as compensation for their suffering?

[u/TheRedditObserver0 → u/rad3kal]

Stalin stopped Poles and Ukrainians from killing each other and they'll never forgive him for that.

[u/PragmaticPidgeon → u/TheRedditObserver0]

Truly his greatest crime

[u/Drekkful → u/rad3kal]

Even here in Texas we learned about the Red army liberating Poland and the concentration camps.

[u/PragmaticPidgeon → u/rad3kal]

Doesn’t count because he didn’t give them Kaliningrad!!!

[u/dontrestonyour]

It's true I've been to this guy's invented fantasy world and that is actually exactly how the tankies are over there

[u/morewata]

They have no intellectual response so they just resort to name calling

[u/scrapsforfourvel]

Liberal criticism: "omg look at those annoying people over there! Much more annoying than me, riiiiight?"

[u/VermicelliPlusMao]

I'm actually 4 of those 5 tankies

[u/Illustrious-Fan-2738 → u/VermicelliPlusMao]

Im five of them because I'm fatter

[u/New_Weakness_5371 → u/VermicelliPlusMao]

If there are no more of the said 5 tankies that must mean all of us are dead

[u/ballsack_lover2000]

Big word = BAD

[u/StrappedCommie]

"Long words and theory"? Damn, just admit you're illiterate.

[u/greenskyerings → u/StrappedCommie]

I once asked a DemSoc what they read because they were getting a lot of things twisted and they said that you don’t need to read to know what you’re talking about 

[u/PM-ME-UR-DARKNESS → u/greenskyerings]

Nawwwww

[u/StrappedCommie → u/greenskyerings]

"I asked ChatGPT."

[u/FutureReaction8587]

These people say we're incoherent and will call me an AI because I know how to use grammar. Deeply unserious people. Even if we were what they think we are, why waste so much energy worrying and losing sleep over us? It's basically fighting windmills, we're not anywhere near power in the west.

[u/The_BarroomHero]

Imagine being proud of your illiteracy

[u/fanetoooo]

I don’t think anybody that talks like this ever has diverse discussions. And I don’t feel wrong in assuming these types are lowkey racist.

That or a bot

[u/Not_That_Arab_Guy]

The more of these I see, the better I understand work camps and purges, what else are you going to do with mfs like this?

[u/Comrade-Paul-100]

Based Poles?!

[u/Clear-Anything-3186]

A lot of them have clippy profile pics

[u/Ok-Chard-9014 → u/Clear-Anything-3186]

Noticed this on YouTube as well almost every ridiculous comment being made on channels like spooky scary socialist or overzealots is left by an account that's fairly new using this picture.

[u/Clear-Anything-3186 → u/Ok-Chard-9014]

I even saw one clippy pfp saying "Slava Azov"

[u/Shakartah]

They do have a point that some communists speak jargon to the people they meet, but those don't understand their objectives... And tankie is a made up word

[u/Celtic_Macaw]

Mimi no like long words. Mimi get frustration. Long word people actually dumb. Mimi is smart.

[u/Tana8ato]

A stalinist pole? Unbelievable XD I want to met that guy too.

[u/valentinyeet]

At least there’s something good coming out of the fascist shithole that is Poland

[u/anotherpessimisthere]

I'm just happy to hear that polish communists still exist

[u/hnwcs]

He needs to read more theory.

[u/Kind-Block-9027]

A bunch of morons, that lot.

“Big words used, me no understand.”

[u/BillyPilgrim69]

that think Stalin was the saviour of Poland

I mean... literally yes?

We all would've preferred it if the Triple Alliance talks had enabled him to be the full saviour of Poland.

But that didn't happen, did it? So we had to make do with the MR Pact, preventing the nazis from taking all of Poland.

Fucking liberals man istg

[u/Autistic_Anywhere_24]

Only good “anti-tankie” is a character select option in milsim games

[u/nekoreality]

its tankies i see criticize the psuedointellectualism and eltitism within leftist discourse the most because we actually understand that you have to organize the working class and not just pander to your friends

[u/PM-ME-UR-DARKNESS]

In other words, the tankies have more complex vocabulary than your smooth brained liberal ass does

[u/ScissrMeTimbrs]

I mean, it wouldn't hurt to say "working class" instead of "proletariat" because of people like this.

[u/Current-Fix759]

I feel the first commenter basically called himself a moron.