Mongolian People's Republic

• 1. Founding And Early Struggles

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  In July 1921, cavalry under Damdin Sükhbaatar captured the capital of Mongolia with Soviet troop support. This event marked the Mongolian People's Revolution and set the stage for a new political order. The Mongolian People's Party had been founded in November 1920 at Kyakhta by leaders including Khorloogiin Choibalsan and Dogsomyn Bodoo. They operated across the border from Siberia where they made contact with Bolsheviks during the Russian Civil War. White Russian forces led by Baron Roman von Ungern-Sternberg had entered Mongolia in October 1920 and restored the Bogd Khan in February 1921. The provisional government declared itself on March 1st that year before the July victory. A treaty signed in November 1921 between a Mongolian delegation and Soviet Russia formalized early cooperation. By 1924, the state was officially named the Mongolian People's Republic after the death of the Bogd Khan. The capital was renamed Ulaanbaatar meaning red hero. Internal divisions emerged quickly within the ruling party as nationalists clashed with communists. In 1922, Prime Minister Bodoo was executed as a counter-revolutionary. Sükhbaatar died in 1923 leading to program amendments aimed at purging oppressor class elements. Danzan was executed later that same year for bourgeois tendencies. The party joined the Comintern and adopted a socialist non-capitalist path of development.

• 2. Stalinist Purges And Repression

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  From September 1937 to April 1939, mass arrests swept through Mongolia under the direction of Khorloogiin Choibalsan who served as minister of internal affairs and commander-in-chief. Some 20,000 to 35,000 Mongols were executed during this campaign organized by NKVD officials. Official figures show approximately 17,000 monks were killed while Buddhist institutions were nearly all destroyed. Property was appropriated and lamas were either killed or secularized. Prime Ministers Peljidiin Genden and Anandyn Amar were accused of counter-revolution and shot in Moscow in 1937 and 1941 respectively. Choibalsan became prime minister in March 1939 after Stalin's close ally took power. He led a Stalinist dictatorship that initiated further episodes of repression throughout his tenure until his death from cancer in Moscow in 1952. The initial nationalist leadership had promoted slogans like Get rich before communists denounced right opportunism at the Seventh Congress in 1928. State expropriation of monastery property began in 1929 forcing herdsmen into collective farms and communes. Uprisings led by lamas occurred between 1930 and 1932 with the largest taking place in 1932 being brutally suppressed. Herdsmen slaughtered livestock or moved animals across the border in response. The Comintern directed the MPRP to expel perpetrators of left deviation in 1932 before moderate leadership took a new turn.

• 3. World War II And Geopolitics

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  In May 1939 Japanese forces first skirmished with Soviet and Mongolian troops at the Battle of Khalkhin Gol. That July Japan launched an unsuccessful attack across the river while August brought encirclement and destruction of Japanese forces under General Georgy Zhukov. Mongolia did not join World War II directly but provided volunteers and materiel to support the Soviet war effort. Yumjaagiin Tsedenbal rose to prominence as MPRP general secretary inspecting aid deliveries and touring the Eastern Front as a lieutenant general. At the Yalta Conference in February 1945 Allied powers decided terms for planned Soviet entry into war against Japan including recognition of status quo in Mongolia. In August 1945 the Soviet Union used Mongolia as one base for its Manchurian Strategic Offensive Operation bringing 650,000 Soviet troops and large amounts of equipment. The Republic of China headed by Chiang Kai-shek was persuaded to recognize Mongolian independence after Stalin promised to refrain from supporting Chinese Communist Party in the civil war. A successful independence referendum was held in October 1945 following the Sino-Soviet Treaty. The ROC had withdrawn recognition of Mongolia's independence and renewed territorial claims on the country.

• 4. Cold War Alliances And Splits

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  Following the proclamation of the People's Republic of China in 1949 Mongolia transferred recognition from the Republic of China to Beijing. The 1950 Sino-Soviet Treaty guaranteed Outer Mongolia's independence but ended Choibalsan hopes for reuniting it with Inner Mongolia. Mao Zedong privately hoped for reintegration raising questions in 1949 and again in 1954 only to be rebuffed by Soviet leadership. Nikita Khrushchev denounced Stalin in 1956 prompting Chinese leaders to present Mongolia's independence as a mistake though Soviets declared Mongols free to decide their own fate. Tsedenbal became enthusiastic about incorporating Mongolia as a constituent republic of the Soviet Union before other MPRP members strenuously opposed the proposal. Relations improved considerably during the 1950s when the Trans-Mongolian Railway opened in 1949 linking Moscow with Ulaanbaatar via the Trans-Siberian Railway. That line extended to the Chinese border and linked with Beijing in 1955. China provided economic support building factories and apartment blocks until thousands of laborers were withdrawn in 1962. A military build-up on the Sino-Mongolian border began in 1963 leading to a new mutual aid treaty signed in 1966 allowing stationing of Soviet troops and missiles. Tsedenbal sent political rivals into internal exile including Dashiin Damba in 1959 and Daramyn Tömör-Ochir in 1962.

• 5. Economic Transformation And Collectivization

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  At the foundation in 1924 Mongolia was a nomadic subsistence society where farming and industry were almost nonexistent. Most people were illiterate nomadic herdsmen while property in livestock was primarily owned by aristocrats and monasteries. Socialist collectivization transformed this agrarian economy into a developing agricultural-industrial one by the late 1980s. The first attempt to collectivize livestock herding began in 1929 forcing nearly 30 percent of poor and middle herdsmen households onto collective farms by end of 1930. These collectives were disbanded in 1932 after uprisings replaced by voluntary cooperatives and production associations totaling 91 in 1940. Collectivization achieved in the 1950s when negdel rose from 165 in 1952 to peak of 727 in 1958 comprising 108,200 households representing 75 percent of total. Livestock owned by negdel increased from 280,500 in 1952 to 16.9 million in 1960 before consolidation reduced numbers to 354. Eight five-year plans launched between 1948 and 1990 aimed at rapidly developing agriculture and industry. Manufacturing town Darkhan founded in 1961 on Trans-Mongolian Railway gained modern power stations high-rise housing schools hospitals and shops. Erdenet established in 1973 hosted one of world's largest copper mines built in previously uninhabited areas.

• 6. Social Engineering And Cultural Policy

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  Before the 1921 revolution religious schools taught lamas to read Buddhist scriptures while few secular schools trained clerks for local administration. The first government-run primary school opened in capital in November 1921 followed by first secondary school in 1923. Ministry of Education devised a 10-year plan from 1926 to 1936 for development of education and teacher training. Buryat intellectual Erdene Batkhaan served as minister of education from 1926 to 1929 playing key role. A nationwide cultural offensive declared in 1930-1931 adopted Latin script for Mongolian to eradicate adult illiteracy though Cyrillic decree came into general use from January 1946. Modern healthcare developed starting in 1922 under Soviet Semashko model with construction of large hospital and clinical network. Population decline gradually reversed by 1930s when ratio of doctors increased dramatically reaching more than 6,000 physicians by 1990 three-quarters women. State-sponsored maternity rest homes helped lower infant mortality from 109 per 1,000 live births in 1960 to 57.4 in 1990. Under one-party rule media strictly controlled through state-owned Montsame news agency and official newspaper Ünen founded in 1920. Traditional arts suppressed in favor of Soviet-inspired socialist realism viewing much culture as feudal or religious. The MPRP established systematic censorship of press publications and artistic performance while fluctuating political attitudes toward Genghis Khan remained evident.

• 7. Reform And Peaceful Transition

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  Mikhail Gorbachev became leader of Soviet Union in March 1985 implementing policies of perestroika and glasnost prompting same reforms in Mongolia known as öörchlön baiguulalt and il tod. Between 1987 and 1992 Soviet troops withdrawn enabling normalization of relations with China. In 1988 the MPRP newspaper Ünen urged accelerated reforms overcoming party dogmatic interpretation describing Tsedenbal as willful and unprincipled. That year Mongolia participated in Seoul Olympic Games making final appearance as communist nation. On the 10th of December 1989 young people began demonstrating for political freedom in Ulaanbaatar on Human Rights Day. January 1990 saw anti-MPRP rallies held by student and social democratic organizations with spokesman Sanjaasürengiin Zorig. After more demonstrations and hunger strike MPRP leadership resigned in March replaced as head of state and general secretary by Batmönkh. Constitution amended May removing references to MPRP guiding role legalizing opposition parties establishing office of president and standing legislature State Little Khural. First multiparty elections July gave MPRP majorities both bodies approving transition to market economy breaking up herding cooperatives and state farms privatization. New constitution adopted January 1992 entering force February created unicameral State Great Khural ending socialist republic. The 1992 constitution instituted liberal democracy putting end to Mongolia's communist state while GDP growth recorded throughout 1980s reached annual increase of 5.1 percent as late as 1988.