In January 1968, a progressive faction was able to gain control of the government in communist Czechoslovakia. They proceeded to liberalize the country. Czech media was allowed to be critical of Soviet-style communism for the first time, and many restrictions on individuals were eased. This was called the "Prague Spring"

Fearing a weakened position in the cold war and a spreading desire for liberal reforms in other countries, the Soviet Union, with the aid of other Warsaw Pact countries, invaded Czechoslovakia in order to install a more friendly regime and bring the country back in line with Soviet policy.

For many western communists and socialists, this was the final nail in the coffin for support of Soviet-style communism. A small minority, however, supported the action. They were labeled as "tankies" because of the imagery of tanks rolling in to Czech cities.

Today, "tanky" is used to label a spectrum of people. At one end are those who have large support for marxist-lenninist/marxist-lenninist-stalinist/marxist-lenninist-maoist Communism (different philosophies of how to accomplish a communist revolution) at one extreme. At another end are people who support the current Russian or Chinese governments because they oppose American imperialism. Most of those people do not really identify as "tankies". The current usage also doesn't really relate to the original, as most people don't have a stance on the Soviet response to the Prague Spring today.

Lemmy.ml is understood to be friendly to marxist-lenninist thought, since the founders subscribe to that philosophy. Thus, users of the instance are often labeled as "tankies".