I see the word comrade get passed around a lot on the internet, particularly lemmy, and I’ve never really known the lore behind it. The only association I have with the word is that it’s a word I primarily see used by tankies (as in, authoritarian leftists who hate on authoritarianism in the west but not in the east). Does anyone know and can explain it in a relatively understandable way?
I could not explain the history of the word to you but I personally use it because its a friendly gender neutral term that doesn’t sound condescending. Like I could refer to someone as friend but I am from the south and thats disrespectful here at least. Its a also a term that to me atleast implies a sense of connection under an oppresive force but I don’t think that meaning is often communicated to the other person.