The word Tankie originates from 1950s British Communist circles. Specifically, it was used by British Communists to derisively describe their comrades who supported the 1956 invasion of Hungary by the Soviet Union.

Images of the Soviet invasion featured a lot of tanks, hence, "Tankie".

After that died down, the term didn't come back into use really, until the 2010s, when leftists on the internet started using it in a tongue-in-cheek sort of way. It was fun to bring back a stupid sounding, incredibly niche, British slang word.

At some point the word breached containment and started to be used by liberals, in a very cavilier sort of way. I've seen people use Tankie to describe anyone from Marxist-Leninists, to Marxists generally, to Leftists generally, weird right-wingers who converted to Russian Orthodoxy, pro-Palestine activists, mods of Lemmy instances someone doesn't like.

Shit, I've seen literal Anarchist get called Tankies.

Basically, it's a meaningless nothing word now, that's a bit like your boomer grandpa who still thinks it's the Red Scare, calling Joe Biden a Commie Pinko.

So don't worry about it too much.

A cute water cistern.

A size of tank, smaller than normal tank, but bigger than tankette.

Anyone ideologically left of Richard Nixon according to our local blue conservatives.

When a South Asian calls the British monarchy fascist or Churchill a genocider in my experience.

It's what centrists call anyone to the left of netanyahu.

A lot of these comments reminds me of people posting on conservative chats asking what a socialist is. About the same amount of mouth foaming.

I would like to remind people about vaccinations against rabies

OP, what have you unleashed.

https://en.prolewiki.org/wiki/Tankie

https://redsails.org/tankies/

https://blackagendareport.com/western-marxism-loves-purity-and-martyrdom-not-real-revolution

A slur mainly on the internet against those leftist (usually Marxists-leninist) who oppose western interventions, sanctions, coups and wars against countries and governments labeled as "authoritarian".

originally used by UK communists party trotskyist wing in support of Hungarian -56 crushed uprising against those who opposed it, calling them tankies. Vaguely same as "stalinist", but it pretty much has lost that meaning in modern use.

People fed up with the the (false) sin/cos dichotomy and want to get people to use tan more often.

It's what Liberals call a person who opposes genocide

Like most words it can mean different things depending on context. I’ll do my best to cover a few without spoiling it with my own opinions.

The most common usage is as a blanket pejorative aimed at anyone who identifies as leftist but also openly endorses authoritarian means or ends.

There are also those who embrace the term and they are also not all the same. There are Marxist-Leninists who believe the only path to a stateless egalitarian society is through a revolutionary vanguard party. There are also those who argue that egalitarian society can only be achieved and maintained through benevolent authoritarianism.

In any case, the term carries an implication of authoritarianism and/or revolutionary violence, hence “tanks.”

Someone who believes people outside of the United States of America are also human beings.

It's essentially a pejorative for "communist." I recommend the Prolewiki article on "Tankies," as well as Nia Frome's essay "Tankies."

For those that want an introduction to Marxism-Leninism, I made an introductory Marxist-Leninist reading list, check it out!