this post was submitted on 23 Aug 2023
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Being an anti-communist leftist still makes you an anti-communist
Being anti-tankie does not make you anti-communist.
"Being anti-woke doesn't mean I'm conservative!"
When people say "anti-woke", they actually mean that they are anti-doing anything about the awareness of systemic inequality that wokeness indicates. By definition, someone who is against change/progress is a conservative, so when someone says they are anti-woke, they are by definition expressing a conservative stance. That is, wanting to do something about systemic inequality is synonymous with having a progressive stance on systemic inequality.
Being a tankie, on the other hand, is not synonymous with being a comunist. Tankies are just one form of communist (militant).
And when people say they are "anti-tankie", they actually mean that they are anti doing anything about the awareness of systematic inequality that tankie indicates. By definition, someone who is against change/progress is a conservative, so when someone says they are anti-tankie, they are by definition expressing a conservative stance. That is, wanting to do something about systemic inequality is synonymous with having a progressive stance on systemic inequality.
Other way around: communists are just one form of tankies, the word is also used to refer to anarchists and some soc-dems.
what the fuck do words even mean anymore, read marx jesus christ
I used to think that Marx was overrated because I never needed to read him but holy shit it's clear that 95% of the populace cannot form coherent ideologies without being taught them
Tankie usually refers to Marxism-Leninism (as well the ideologies that derived from it such as Maoism). But there are communist ideologies that don't derive from ML such as Orthodox Marxism, trotskyism, libertarian Marxism, bulshevism, etc.
no it usually refers to whatever the fuck the person posting it seems to think it is, there is not a coherent label for it.
Oh cool, which societies use those?
Why are you letting libs define everything? You and I both know they're dumbasses and shouldn't be taken seriously.
Anyone could have said the same to Marx about communism at any point in his life, as he died before the October revolution.
Yeah I'm sure everyone in the lemmyverse is using the word tankie to refer to those of us who support the 1956 Soviet intervention in Hungary /s
the difference is you named a bunch of dead ideologies that will never be revived, ML is literally the only form of marxism still flourishing
Speculation and also not relevant.
how is that speculation, its material; Im only interested in ideologies with proven merit.
Im willing to take a chance of a synthesis on a new idea, but it has to actually offer people something.
It's speculation because you don't know what the future holds. And just because you're not interested in a particular ideology or don't think it has merit doesn't make it any less communist.
My only point is that words do in fact have meaning, Marxist-Leninism is not synonymous with communism. Therefore, one can be anti-tankie without being anti-communist.
You can be, but that would be called 'idealism' and no one outside of western liberal spheres will take you seriously.
"Orthodox Marxists" can hardly be said to exist, because the classical formulation of Marxism has long been empirically refuted, hence the need for new schools. Even Luxembourgists are more respectable than "Orthodox Marxists".
have you confused the internet for a court room?
Nope, just trying to have a rational, good faith discussion.
Your position is idealist and neither rational nor good faith - don't expect others to meet you with merits your position lacks.
I don't see how acknowledging that other branches of communism and Marxism exist is idealism, bad faith, or irrational.
That's not what you've done, though, is it? If you're unable to describe your own arguments, how can you possibly hope to engage with other people?
Because you only advocate for ideas that dont exist in reality, and deride actually existing marxism as 'tankie', you can continue to advocate for idealist positions, but it requires you to build a coherent movement around it otherwise its just masterbation and contrarianism.
Omg read theory dammit!
Telling someone to read Marx to understand modern day socialism is like telling someone to read Newton to understand modern day physics tbh.
Yeah, you're right. It's also important to read Lenin's works on imperialism to understand modern socialism. It's important to study Mao as well.
I mean yeah, if you want to understand the devolopment of physics you are required to understand the foundations it was built on, this is basic study.
Its like telling someone they should read the bible if they want to be christian, or telling someone they should read the instruction manual if they want to actually know what the terms they are using mean.