it’s actually a very old term that was recently revived. Khruschev intervened against CIA-backed fascist “revolutionaries” in Hungary in 1956. This caused a split in the Communist Party of Great Britain. those who supported the USSR’s antifascist action in hungary were called “tankies”. I’m not joking by the way. Liberals using the term “tankie” today to describe the so called “authoritarian” (antifascist, revolutionary, anti-imperialist) left are totally divorced from the origins of the term. It’s just something they picked up. They have no insight into the historical origin of term in CPGB infighting.