Tears into quiet socialists (6)
I believe the answer is:
shreds
'tears' is the definition.
(shredding is a kind of tearing)
'quiet socialists' is the wordplay.
'quiet' becomes 'sh' ('sh' is used to tell someone to be quiet).
'socialists' becomes 'reds' (red is a kind of socialist).
'sh'+'reds'='SHREDS'
'into' is the link.
(Other definitions for shreds that I've seen before include "Small pieces as of torn paper" , "Scraps - fragments (of evidence?)" , "Small pieces, maybe of bread" , "Tears into tiny pieces" , "Tears into strips" .)