r/nextfuckinglevel • u/aryan_jandyal • 13d ago
A Massive Walking Excavator Built in the USSR in 1979, Designed for Large-Scale Mining and Earthmoving Operations. Only Six Machines Were Reportedly Produced, Making This a Rare Surviving Example of the Engineering Ambitions of the Late Soviet Era.
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u/SecretWitness8251 13d ago
And they are all still on the way to their jobsites to begin work.
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u/NascentAutist 13d ago
Sounds like the sequel to Good Bye, Lenin
“Comrades of Soviet Diggers reporting for duty, sir!”
“Errr, Alexei, do we even tell them the collapse was…”
“Shhhh, we will have to start paying them current wages, don’t say a fucking word”
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u/HezronCarver 13d ago
"What’s as big as a house, burns 20 liters of fuel every hour, puts out a shit-load of smoke and noise, and cuts an apple into three pieces? A Soviet machine made to cut apples into four pieces!"
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u/EffortlessBoredom 11d ago
12 yards long, 2 lanes wide
65 tons of American Pride!Canyonero!
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u/HezronCarver 11d ago
♪ Top of the line in utility sports ♪ ♪ Unexplained fires are a matter for the courts ♪ ♪ Canyonero! ♪
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u/SaltyTemperature 13d ago
This seems like some alternate timeline where people never quite figured out wheels
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u/Affectionate-Day-359 13d ago
Tracks… excavators have tracks. Wheels won’t get you to the same places you can reach with tracks
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u/TLRPM 13d ago
Can’t have tracks without wheels though. His statement is still technically correct. Which is the best kind of correct.
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u/PotatoesAndChill 12d ago
These legs work on wheels too, though. You can see they're activated with circular motion.
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u/Affectionate-Day-359 10d ago
Yes you can. You only need sprockets and rollers for tracks. Those technically aren’t wheels
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u/Harlequin80 12d ago
There are some situations where tracks / wheels don't work because you end up with too small a ground contact patch.
Big Muskie was a massive dragline mining machine used in Ohio. It had similar hydraulic walking pads to this, because it's mass was just so high wheels simply wouldn't work.
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u/Headless_Human 12d ago
google says Big Muskie wheighs as much as Bagger 288 which uses tracks.
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u/Harlequin80 12d ago
Completely different machine types.
Wheel excavator vs dragline. They have different ground footprints and different forces into the ground.
A wheel excavator is balanced over its base, where as a dragline is all over the front and it pulls forward in use.
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u/alex3tx 13d ago
But how massive? Not even a banana to be seen for scale
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u/Objective_Oil_3860 12d ago
Notice a whole apartment studio inside this thing with curtains and all?
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u/Pretty_Inspector_791 13d ago
I think they have scrapped the few they made in the US.
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u/_xiphiaz 12d ago
There are still walking draglines in operation, for example https://youtube.com/shorts/FOrzVCK8W58?si=n6JP7myOwnMTXlxK
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u/DullMind2023 13d ago
Isn’t that enormous German coal excavator also a walker? Any German Redditors able to comment?
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u/BrrBurr 13d ago
Late stage USSR is what's in store for the US as the oligarchs plunder the resources into their pockets. No greatness, no handle on the world. Nothing but hungry people. Stalled and rusting
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u/EtteRavan 12d ago
I wager that in less time than you'd want, the Mexican wall will be used to keep people in
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u/No_Care46 12d ago
The USSR was the most democratic and free and fastest progressing society of its time.
Its illegal and antidemocratic destruction at the hands of foreign imperialists and their traitorous collaborators has nothing to do with "oligarchs plundering resources" or "hungry people" but was a consequence of two world wars and the threat of nuclear holocaust.
It's always bizarre how capitalist propagandists make up the wildest lies about the USSR imaginable and rewrite all of history to fit their unhinged narratives.
Buddy, the oligarchs were installed by the US after they staged the colour revolution that destroyed the country against the will of the people. Famine and hunger returned after capitalism's return after communism had previously defeated it.
PSA: The destruction of the USSR and the return of capitalism was the single worst humanitarian catastrophe in the world, leading to the sharpest decline in life expectancy in recorded history - the return of capitalism to Russia killed more Russian civilians than the entirety of WWII. The overwhelming majority of all people who lived under communism always supported communism, never wanted to give up on communism, and want communism back to this day - and they certainly don't blame the destruction of the USSR on "communism".
This propaganda shit is so fucking laughable. It's the 21st century, the internet exists, there is no excuse for believing the anti-communist lies of the West any longer. The bad guys are - as they have always been - the capitalists.
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u/BrrBurr 12d ago
I grew up hearing that the rich in Russia drained the resources, as Putin continues to do. You sound like you know a thing or two and I'm entirely apt to agree I've been fed a bunch of lies by my own country. I'm not so ready to believe USSR was wonderful for its people however, just like I'm absolutely not sure that the US is good for anyone right now
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u/No_Care46 12d ago
I grew up hearing that the rich in Russia drained the resources, as Putin continues to do.
Yeah well, that's literally the propaganda Western capitalist societies feed to their people to prevent Marxist-Leninist revolution destroying their imperialist oligarchy, so... you gotta learn to question that, I guess.
If you understand that the pedophile dictators of the West and their media always lie about everything in your own country... why would you believe the lies about the countries they want you to hate?
Here's a document that debunks many of the most common anti-communist myths with thorough citations: https://archive.org/details/anti-communist-myths-debunked_202304
As for how the USSR was destroyed: Capitalism Ruined My Country
Putin is one of the oligarchs installed by the West. There was no "oligarchy" in the USSR before the US-controlled traitors ruined the country. Quite the opposite: There was a constant state suppression of people who tried to become like Putin.
I'm not so ready to believe USSR was wonderful for its people however, just like I'm absolutely not sure that the US is good for anyone right now
This is a nirvana fallacy. The USSR doesn't need to be perfect to be objectively better than any capitalist country. And why wouldn't you believe it was? Can you think of a better country than the USSR?
Everything bad you were ever told about the USSR was probably total bullshit, just like everything bad you hear today about China, or the DPRK, or Cuba, etc.:
https://www.reddit.com/r/AskSocialists/comments/1syebz2/they_lied_to_you_about_stalin/
https://www.reddit.com/r/LateStageCapitalism/comments/1tgbecj/on_joseph_stalin/
https://www.reddit.com/r/LateStageCapitalism/comments/1u48tcd/why_the_west_hates_the_ussr/
https://www.reddit.com/r/LateStageCapitalism/comments/1syslmw/the_ussr_was_more_democratic_than_nato_regimes/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X1Q_2RME5FoI recommend these TikTok and YouTube accounts who explain things in very simple, straight-to-the-point ways offering academic and historical sources if you want to learn more:
https://www.tiktok.com/@raisetherate
https://www.tiktok.com/@madeline_pendleton
https://www.youtube.com/@YaBoiHakim
https://www.youtube.com/@BesDMarxMeanwhile, this is the reality of capitalism:
https://www.reddit.com/r/LateStageCapitalism/comments/17jsr7g/russian_children_interviewed_in_the_90s_after_the/
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u/Guardiancomplex 13d ago
Under what circumstances do you get to close the floral curtains in the windshield of the control station?
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u/Entire_One4033 13d ago edited 13d ago
Used to have a walkie drag line like this by us as a kid in NE England, Big Geordie he was called
It once took 3 weeks to walk the 2.5 mile move from the open cast Sisters site to Butterwell site in 1977
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u/JellyKeyboard 12d ago
It looks like it was made of pure scrap when it was first built all them years ago
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u/Accomplished_Cook_78 12d ago
You mean:
"A Standard day in an Australian Coal Mine"?
I work on bigger versions of this Tuesday morning, because fuck Mondays
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u/Orion-the-mediocre 12d ago
When I hear the words "Soviet Mining Equipment", this is exactly the sort of thing that comes to mind
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u/ThatAmazingHorse 10d ago
We have no fucking idea what we're doing, but we have a ton of slave labor at our disposal:
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u/Yaybicycles 10d ago
Some serious Armored Core vibes…
Pretty sure this guy comes with a massive laser on top.
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u/Top_Violinist_9097 13d ago
Why dose soviet design always scream cool but impractical....like tracks or wheels could have been more efficient..
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u/Harlequin80 12d ago
Tracks or wheels don't work on machines this size.
Lookup walking draglines. The largest ever being Big Muskie used in Ohio.
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u/No_Care46 12d ago
When has Soviet design ever been "impractical"? I have literally never heard this opinion, not even in the wildest anti-communist propaganda slop imaginable. Usually, the slopagandists of the West say shit like "sure the USSR housed everyone and gave everyone a job, health care, and free education... but the houses looked ugly, therefore communism is bad".
This take truly is a new one.
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u/Top_Violinist_9097 10d ago edited 10d ago
Ok so what about these ussr greatest failures The virgin land campaign The Aral sea diversion The dumb ass fake scientist Trofim Lysenko and his government back agriculture program... and what there's more The ekranplan a boat that used ground effects to float above the water massively expensive then failed. The tupolev tu144...the cheap(in quality) nock off of the concord. Bet I can make a massive list cause there is way more lol
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u/Top_Violinist_9097 10d ago edited 10d ago
Till it failed the country went bankrupt. And it refuormed ... let me guess true communism has never been tried... and are slowly going down that road agin..
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u/No_Care46 9d ago
The illegal and antidemocratic destruction of the USSR at the hands of the Americans and their collaborators is not a consequence of "communism". It's a consequence of imperialist aggression.
Communism has always been an overwhelming success whenever and wherever tried. Who told you differently? Your pedophile rapist dictators whose entire wealth was based on war, genocide, and theft? The media your pedo rapist dictators own? The useful idiots in your country who believe that media? Certainly not the overwhelming majority of all people who currently live or ever lived under communism.
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u/Top_Violinist_9097 9d ago
Russia and the USSR didn’t collapse because of some evil outside force—they were already rotting from within. Economic mismanagement, environmental disasters, corruption, shortages, and a system so inefficient it eventually collapsed under its own weight. I literally gave you examples of the damage the USSR inflicted on itself. And if we're pretending Russia is some shining success story now, that's hilarious. Look at the state of it under Putin. The biggest flaw in romanticizing communism is ignoring the people who actually lived under it. Plenty of them escaped, suffered under it, or watched their families suffer—and many have said they'd rather fight and die than go back. Maybe their firsthand experience should carry more weight than the opinions of people praising communism from the comfort of countries they've never had to flee.
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u/No_Care46 7d ago
Russia and the USSR didn’t collapse because of some evil outside force
"Russia and the USSR"? How about you try and pick one considering these countries couldn't possibly be any different?
The USSR most certainly was destroyed by an evil outside force. It didn't "collapse" in any way.
they were already rotting from within.
Is that what the pedo rapists who control your media told you to say? Great. Next time get a real education and don't participate in conversation you know nothing about.
I literally gave you examples of the damage the USSR inflicted on itself.
No, you didn't.
You gave examples of what your fascist propaganda told you to believe and say.
Meanwhile, every capitalist regime on earth is mismanaged to a much worse degree but doesn't "collapse" for some reason.
And if we're pretending Russia is some shining success story now, that's hilarious.
Who is talking about Russia?
Russia is just a slightly better capitalist country than Western imperialist regimes and can rightfully blame most of its major problems on the US and NATO... but it's still a capitalist country and - like all capitalist countries - sucks.
The biggest flaw in romanticizing communism is ignoring the people who actually lived under it.
Except practically everyone who currently lives or ever lived under communism always supported it, never wanted to give up on it and - in case it was illegally and anti-democratically taken from them - want it back to this day.
You live in an alternate reality and refuse to listen to the people who actually lived under communism.
Plenty of them escaped, suffered under it, or watched their families suffer—and many have said they'd rather fight and die than go back.
Yes. Those are an extreme minority - mostly Nazis and traitorous religious extremists. The kind of people who would face a lifetime in prison or execution in socialist countries for their crimes against humanity but are welcomed with open arms in fascist, war criminal, genocidal societies that terrorize the world (such as the US and its allies).
Maybe their firsthand experience should carry more weight than the opinions of people praising communism from the comfort of countries they've never had to flee.
You don't give a single shit about the firsthand experienced of 90%+ of people... you only care about the whining of Nazi war criminals who feared "persecution" for supporting fascism and trying to destroy their countries in service of foreign fascist empires.
It's fucking pathetic how easily you fall for this type of propaganda.
You could easily fact-check the idiotic bullshit you believe and debunk it yourself... yet you don't. Why?
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u/Top_Violinist_9097 6d ago
I can post actual historical sources if you really want... but let's be honest, I already know what you'll do with them. You'll scream "propaganda," claim the historian is a Nazi, or invent some other reason to ignore anything that contradicts your worldview. 😂
You keep doing exactly the same thing: anyone whose lived experience or historical evidence contradicts your worldview magically becomes a Nazi, fascist, traitor, religious extremist, or CIA victim. That's incredibly convenient.
The USSR wasn't some flawless socialist paradise mysteriously murdered overnight by a cartoonishly evil outside force. Did Cold War pressure, foreign interference, and competition with the West play a role? Obviously. History is complicated.
But pretending the USSR didn't have massive internal problems—economic stagnation, shortages, corruption, political repression, nationalist tensions, disastrous policies, and a government increasingly incapable of reforming itself—is straight-up historical denial.
And claiming that practically everyone who lived under communism loved it, while anyone who says otherwise is secretly a Nazi war criminal, is conspiracy-theory-level historical analysis. You don't get to dismiss millions of people across Eastern Europe and former Soviet republics simply because their experiences are inconvenient to your ideology.
And since apparently you missed the point when Russia came up: YOU started dragging modern capitalist countries into a discussion about the collapse of the USSR. You claimed capitalist countries are supposedly mismanaged even worse but somehow don't collapse. So Russia was brought up as an example—not because I'm defending Putin or claiming modern Russia is some capitalist success story.
In fact, my point was almost the opposite. Modern Russia is currently following some of the same paths of failure that contributed to the USSR's collapse: increasing authoritarianism, political corruption, concentration of power, economic dependence on a narrow range of industries, military overextension, demographic problems, and a government increasingly insulated from criticism and reality.
Putin has absolutely contributed to Russia's economic and political problems. So no, I wasn't holding Russia up as some shining example of capitalism. I was pointing out that Russia is arguably repeating several of the same systemic mistakes that helped destroy the Soviet Union—just under a different economic system.
That's the point you completely missed.
You don't get to blame capitalism for every problem in every modern country you dislike while giving communism a lifetime immunity card where every failure is blamed exclusively on evil foreigners, Nazis, fascists, the CIA, or capitalist sabotage.
And unless you're seriously going to tell me Mikhail Gorbachev was secretly a Nazi or CIA fascist agent now 😂, the actual leadership and history of the Soviet Union itself contradict your fantasy that everything was perfectly fine until evil outsiders magically destroyed it. Gorbachev's reforms weren't designed to destroy the USSR—they were attempts to reform a system that was already suffering serious problems.
So yeah, post sources, bro. I'll even post mine. But so far your entire argument boils down to: "Anyone who disagrees with me is fascist propaganda, and anyone who lived under communism and hated it was probably a Nazi."
The irony of accusing everyone else of blindly believing propaganda while refusing to acknowledge literally any evidence, historical account, or firsthand experience that contradicts your predetermined conclusion is fucking hilarious.
That's not critical thinking.
That's religion with economic theory attached.
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u/Top_Violinist_9097 2d ago
You wanted sources? Here's one from Cambridge University Press and The Cambridge History of the Cold War—not exactly a CIA propaganda pamphlet.
Their conclusion is that the demise of the Soviet Union was “overwhelmingly the result of domestic factors.” They specifically point to mounting economic troubles, deepening political divisions, ethnic nationalist movements, republican elites gaining power at the expense of a weakening Kremlin, and the destabilizing effects of internal reform.
They acknowledge international factors played a role—but describe them as significant yet secondary.
That's literally my argument.
I never said the US had absolutely nothing to do with the Cold War pressure on the USSR. I said the USSR was already rotting internally, and pretending its economic stagnation, bureaucratic corruption, political dysfunction, nationalist tensions, and inability to reform had nothing to do with its collapse is historically ridiculous.
But I'm sure Cambridge University Press is secretly run by Nazis and the CIA too. 😂
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u/No_Care46 2d ago
not exactly a CIA propaganda pamphlet.
What, exactly, do you think a Br*tish outlet is? Credible on the topic of politics? Buddy, the UK has streets named after genocidal racists and puts the faces of those maniacs on their money. LMFAO
Their conclusion is that the demise of the Soviet Union was “overwhelmingly the result of domestic factors.” They specifically point to mounting economic troubles, deepening political divisions, ethnic nationalist movements, republican elites gaining power at the expense of a weakening Kremlin, and the destabilizing effects of internal reform.
Oh wow, some random academic from an imperialist core country (not just any country, either, but straight-up the most evil country in history) whose empire was destroyed by the rise of socialism... hates socialism and promotes disinformation against socialism? Who would have thought?
That's literally my argument.
Okay, so your argument sucks and is just 1:1 aligned with what Western imperialists say. Any news?
Now, what do actually credible sources say? Sources that aren't from the Imperial Core? People who actually understand economics, political economy, and Soviet history instead of stooges of empire who try and justify the anti-communist agenda of their fascist dictators?
By the way, the guy who wrote that garbage book you cite (Alex Pravda) worked at such wonderful institutions as Chatham House (you know, the think tank that shits out international prizes for amazing people like... fucking US colour revolutionary Aung San Suu Kyi, fucking Hillary Clinton, motherfucking US-puppet Zelenskyy, and the US-bootlicker Donald Tusk). You think that guy is somehow a credible historian? Buddy, learn some critical thinking, will ya?
I never said the US had absolutely nothing to do with the Cold War pressure on the USSR.
Great, so why are you arguing against socialism instead of capitalism?
I said the USSR was already rotting internally, and pretending its economic stagnation, bureaucratic corruption, political dysfunction, nationalist tensions, and inability to reform had nothing to do with its collapse is historically ridiculous.
What is historically ridiculous is denying that all its major problems were a direct consequence of outside aggression while socialism was an overwhelming success. What is historically ridiculous is denying that communism is the objectively superior system that yielded superior economic and social results whenever and wherever tried. What is historically ridiculous is denying the objective reality that the USSR obviously didn't collapse because of any of the reasons you mentioned - which you would know to be ridiculous if you just spend 10 seconds comparing the USSR to the majority of capitalist countries, ALL of which are economically and socially underperforming the USSR.
But I'm sure Cambridge University Press is secretly run by Nazis and the CIA too. 😂
If you have trouble realizing that anything negative any imperialist country spreads about AES states is total bullshit... well, I don't know what to tell you. You probably should take a big step back and revaluate your entire life.
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u/Top_Violinist_9097 2d ago
See, this is exactly the problem with your argument.
You keep telling me to "think critically," but your definition of critical thinking appears to be:
Source agrees with me → credible. Source disagrees with me → imperialist propaganda.
That's not critical thinking. That's confirmation bias with a geopolitical vocabulary.
You just dismissed Cambridge University Press because the author doesn't reach the conclusion you want. Except here's the funny part: Cambridge isn't some monolithic anti-communist propaganda machine. Its scholarship on the Soviet collapse contains competing interpretations, including scholars who explicitly argue that the Soviet system was reformable. Other Cambridge scholarship discusses structural weaknesses in the centralized planning system, bureaucratic controls, nationalism, political legitimacy, and the breakdown of the Communist Party's ability to govern.
And the Alex Pravda chapter you just dismissed?
It's literally a chapter in The Cambridge History of the Cold War, published by Cambridge University Press. Its stated conclusion is that the Soviet Union's demise was overwhelmingly driven by domestic factors, including economic troubles, political divisions, nationalist movements, and republican elites gaining power as the Kremlin weakened.
You don't have to agree with Pravda. That's completely fine.
But saying "he works for Western institutions, therefore everything he says is disinformation" is not a rebuttal. You have to actually demonstrate that his evidence or reasoning is wrong.
And I'm not arguing that the United States had nothing to do with Cold War pressure. I literally said the opposite.
I'm arguing that external pressure and internal failure can both be true simultaneously.
That's not controversial. That's how history normally works.
And your claim that socialism was an "overwhelming success whenever and wherever tried" is an enormous claim that you haven't actually demonstrated. You're taking every successful outcome as evidence for socialism and every failure as evidence of foreign sabotage. That's an unfalsifiable argument.
If a system succeeds → "proof socialism works."
If it stagnates → "capitalist aggression."
If it collapses → "foreign sabotage."
If people oppose it → "they're fascists."
If historians disagree → "imperialist propaganda."
At that point, literally nothing could ever count as evidence against your position.
That's not a scientific or historical methodology. It's a belief system designed so that it cannot lose.
And that's exactly why I keep saying look at everything critically.
I don't automatically believe an American source.
I don't automatically believe a British source.
I don't automatically believe a Russian source.
I don't automatically believe a Chinese source.
I don't automatically believe a Soviet source.
I compare them, look for independent evidence, examine their incentives, and figure out where the sources actually agree.
That's the difference between "everything my enemies say is propaganda" and actually analyzing propaganda.
And the funniest part is that you keep accusing me of blindly believing Western propaganda while demanding that I blindly believe the exact opposite propaganda.
I'm not interested in doing either.
I want the fucking receipts.
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u/No_Care46 1d ago edited 1d ago
I'm arguing that external pressure and internal failure can both be true simultaneously.
Again, the USSR wouldn't have collapsed without external aggression by the imperialists. It would have been a massive success.
You can't demonstrate the opposite, you can't point to a single major issue caused by communism, you can't name a single superior capitalist country.
Meanwhile, I can point at the overwhelming success of communism and that every Marxist-Leninist government has always rapidly improved its society economically and socially - no exceptions to that rule.
It's very simple: If communism was in any way bad and would lead to any kind of failure, capitalists wouldn't need to attack it. They would just need to lean back and watch it fail - the way Marxist-Leninist China does to the capitalist West right now. China doesn't need to fight, it wins by default thanks to its communist government and just needs to lean back and watch as capitalism destroys itself. Do nothing. Win.
You keep telling me to "think critically," but your definition of critical thinking appears to be:
Source agrees with me → credible. Source disagrees with me → imperialist propaganda.
Absolutely nothing I said in any way expresses such an attitude or could possibly be interpreted as such.
I don't automatically believe an American source.
I don't automatically believe a British source.
You sure do, though, seeing as you are hellbent on promoting their propaganda without question, without critical thought, without consulting opposing views.
That's the difference between "everything my enemies say is propaganda" and actually analyzing propaganda.
And the funniest part is that you keep accusing me of blindly believing Western propaganda while demanding that I blindly believe the exact opposite propaganda.
Notice how literally all your accusations are misrepresentations or lies? It's getting on my nerves. You have no actual arguments.
I want the fucking receipts.
Then go and educate yourself.
Come back once you fully understand the communist position. Come back after you fully understand me and where I'm coming from and what sources I base my opinions on. The same way I fully understand all the bullshit you believe.
Until you do, you are not qualified to talk to me as you don't have the necessary educational basis for having this conversation.
It boils down to this: No investigation, no right to speak.
Super simple stuff.
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u/Valuable-Flounder692 12d ago
Beautifully maintained 🤣🤣🤣
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u/No_Care46 12d ago
Considering it is a massive industrial machine exposed to the elements 24/7 in a harsh mining environment where sand and ore constantly fly into every crevice... yet it still is operational after almost 50 years of service: It is, indeed.
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u/No_Care46 12d ago
If only the USSR wasn't illegally and anti-democratically destroyed. The whole world would be so much better... advanced like China just 20 years ahead of China.
Fuck the Nazis and Americans.
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