Cowbee

Unsure what you're referring to, specifically, moreover the use of the word "totalitarian" betrays a lack of understanding how the USSR functioned in reality.

Communists support the PRC as a Socialist state run by Marxist-Leninists, yes. No Communist supports the Russian Federation outright, however, only reserved, temporary, and highly critical support for Russia's anti-US Hegemony stance, which it only adopts for its own survival and not out of any moral superiority. No Communist "shills" for the Russian Federation.

Supporting the PRC is absolutely a Leftist position, as a Socialist country and a rising superpower it's the current best hope for Socialism, whether you agree with all of the CPC's actions or only some.

Critical, reserved support for Russia's temporary and strategic anti-US Hegemony stance does not mean Leftists critically supporting Russia agree with the Russian state or support it.

The word "tankie" isn't solely applied to people who critically support Russia in its temporary anti-US Hegemony stance. Again, the lack of unity behind the usage of the term means some may use it in a more reserved and restricted manner, but in reality it is used by liberals of all stripes against leftists of all stripes.

The word "tankie" originated as the OP describes, referring to members of the Communist Party of Great Britain that supported the USSR putting down the color revolutions in Hungary and Prague Spring. Nowadays, it is used as a catch-all pejorative for anyone to the left of the DNC.

Oh, gotcha! That makes sense, like having a bit of Q&A on what constitutes a commodity, how to calculate value, etc might help guide the reader along.

It varies from instance to instance. The main users of the word "tankie" are blahaj.zone, lemmy.world, and sh.itjust.works from what I've seen, most other instances generally aren't as bad about it IMO.

Yep, it's a deeply unserious term. It's only used unironically, in my experience, by people who haven't read theory yet devote a huge chunk of time to debating online, which is largely a waste of time to begin with. That's why I focus on just trying to correct misconceptions and provide my reading list when appropriate, debating is just an outlet for frustration for most people. It's truly rare that debate convinces anyone.

Reading has been a massive improvement in my life, buying an eReader helped that along. From fiction to Marxist theory to history books, having an eReader helped me avoid issues with ADHD, I would struggle to open a book and stay focused but being able to pick up and put down an eReader at any time and read for a few minutes without having to carry a full book around was massive.

The use of the word "tankie" these days is so over-used it has become synonymous with "left of the DNC." I've even seen Anarchists described as "tankies," it's getting ridiculous. Still, the word "tankie" is most often used by liberals against Marxists, though they won't admit to having an anti-Marxist bias, mostly because they think they agree with Marx generally but are unfamiliar with Marxist analysis.

Really, more people need to read theory before having an opinion on it to avoid speaking past each other. I wrote an introductory reading list for Marxism-Leninism if anyone wants to get a better understanding of Marxism.

I'm not sure instance hopping is available yet, but you can always just sign up for the instance you want. However, Lemmy.world is not the "main" instance, Lemmy.ml is. Lemmy.world is the largest instance, which can cause confusion, but it definitely takes an active stance against Marxists and even Anarchists, which is why it is defederated from some of the major leftist instances.

Which instance are you trying to join? Which defederated ones from Lemmy.world do you want to see?

You should absolutely try to understand the rise of Trump voters, the mechanisms behind it. If you don't understand why Trump voters exist, then you can't hope to properly understand how to tackle that problem.