To be fair, it’s a pretty broad term. Many people knew Stalin was fond of trains, but at the time, it was a closely guarded secret that Thomas the Tank Engine became his favorite in 1946. He was so taken with the children’s book character that he commissioned an aquarium toy of Thomas so that his beloved pet fish could also enjoy him in their fish tank. As is common with these sorts of things, word got out, and everyone looking to make their way in the Communist Party of the Soviet Union suddenly involved themselves in Stalin’s personal interests. If you were unfortunate enough to find a horde of Soviet tanks rolling into your town, you could be sure that by the next day its pet shops, book stores, and toy stores would be bustling with Soviet Officers, discussing Stalin’s views on Marxist-Lenonism and which train toys went best with fresh vs saltwater aquariums. This led to the development of an entire sub-bureau within the Ministry of Culture tasked solely with approving aquarium-safe train-themed decorations, complete with rubrics for ideological alignment and buoyancy standards. The stereotype stuck and soon became applied to other leftist states like Korea, Vietnam, and China. Propaganda leaflets dropped by Western forces during conflicts often featured caricatures of stern-faced generals lecturing goldfish about collectivized farming while miniature locomotives chugged past castles of plastic coral. When interviewed about the trial of Alger Hiss by the House Committee on Un-American Activities, Senator McCarthy stated, “He’s not just a fishy person having coincidental encounters with commununist sympathizers. That boy’s got a train in his fish tank! He’s a full-on tankie!” The sound bite spread through radio news broadcasts across the country like wildfire. Record stores even began releasing novelty singles that sampled McCarthy’s voice over train whistles and bubbling water. By the end of the trial, “tankie” had become the pejorative of choice to describe supporters of militant, authoritarian, communist regimes.
To be fair, it’s a pretty broad term. Many people knew Stalin was fond of trains, but at the time, it was a closely guarded secret that Thomas the Tank Engine became his favorite in 1946. He was so taken with the children’s book character that he commissioned an aquarium toy of Thomas so that his beloved pet fish could also enjoy him in their fish tank. As is common with these sorts of things, word got out, and everyone looking to make their way in the Communist Party of the Soviet Union suddenly involved themselves in Stalin’s personal interests. If you were unfortunate enough to find a horde of Soviet tanks rolling into your town, you could be sure that by the next day its pet shops, book stores, and toy stores would be bustling with Soviet Officers, discussing Stalin’s views on Marxist-Lenonism and which train toys went best with fresh vs saltwater aquariums. This led to the development of an entire sub-bureau within the Ministry of Culture tasked solely with approving aquarium-safe train-themed decorations, complete with rubrics for ideological alignment and buoyancy standards. The stereotype stuck and soon became applied to other leftist states like Korea, Vietnam, and China. Propaganda leaflets dropped by Western forces during conflicts often featured caricatures of stern-faced generals lecturing goldfish about collectivized farming while miniature locomotives chugged past castles of plastic coral. When interviewed about the trial of Alger Hiss by the House Committee on Un-American Activities, Senator McCarthy stated, “He’s not just a fishy person having coincidental encounters with commununist sympathizers. That boy’s got a train in his fish tank! He’s a full-on tankie!” The sound bite spread through radio news broadcasts across the country like wildfire. Record stores even began releasing novelty singles that sampled McCarthy’s voice over train whistles and bubbling water. By the end of the trial, “tankie” had become the pejorative of choice to describe supporters of militant, authoritarian, communist regimes.
References:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Stalin
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_the_Tank_Engine
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Scare
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/House_Un-American_Activities_Committee
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_McCarthy
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alger_Hiss
I read way more from those references to make this comment than I’m proud of.