TANKIE

noun Also written Tanky (Politics) In British slang, a hard-line Communist who unquestioningly supports Soviet policies. Etymology: Said to be so named because of the Tankies' reluctance to condemn Soviet military intervention (tanks) in Afghanistan (or, long before that, in Czechoslovakia). History and Usage: The split of British Communism into a Eurocommunist (see Euro°) and a Sovietist or Tankie branch dates from the second half of the seventies, although the dismissive nickname Tankie did not start to appear in print until the mid eighties. The hard-line Tankies were associated particularly with the Morning Star newspaper by users of the nickname. The New Communist Party of Britain, the Battersea Sovietist splinter off the old bloc, has issued this guidance to the world's press. 'Please do not describe the NCP as "Stalinists" or "Tankies"...If you insist on using this misleading shorthand, please make it clear you are talking about "Stalinists and Tankies" who support glasnost and perestroika.' Guardian 28 Apr. 1988, p. 23