Honestly most anarchists I’ve encountered tend to reflexively hate socialist states to the point that any nuanced take on them gets you the label without even expressing principled support as an ML. I sometimes think they hate ML socialism more than they hate capitalism, which is wild to me. Like, I think that most anarchists are idealistic and naive, but I still think they are comrades and I would happily live in their version of communism if it somehow came about.

o7

At this point tankie just means anyone who acknowledges there is nuance to historical and/or modern socialist states. You don’t even have to support or defend them to earn the pejorative, you get it just for saying that maybe the CIA lied about some things.

Edit: after re-reading your comment I realize I am just repeating what you said.