History of Mongolia

Mongolia up to 1945 

After the death of the Bogda Khaan in 1924 the Central Committee of the Mongolian People’s Party outlined the form of the Mongolian administration. At that period most leaders of the party and government were planning to advance Mongolia along the way of national democratic orientation. But E.D.Rinchino, presidium member of the Central Committee of the MPP, advisor to the government and head of the all-military council and citizen of the Soviet Union, had opposite view to the Mongolians. He submitted his thesis to the third Congress of the MPP which was held in the August of 1924. This thesis said that the aim of the Mongolian People’s Party was communism and the party could achieve it by skipping over the capitalist and bourgeois way of development. This proposal set forth by E.D.Rinchino upon the direct instruction of the Komintern was extremely one sided and unacceptable in the condition of Mongolia. So many leaders opposed and rejected this proposal. Among them was S.Danzan, first Vice-prime Minister, head of all military affairs and presidium member of the MPP. S.Danzan said " There was no necessing to limit private property and no capitalists in Mongolia.

It was not a matter to discuss today’. The view of S.Danzan at that period was the expression of many Mongolian authorities. E.D.Rinchino denounced S.Danzan and claimed he was a Chinese spy. Then several leaders were executed. Those people, who expressed their views freely at the Party Congress, were severely repressed and sentenced to execution. This was the beginning of limiting freedom and start of despotism. This Congress noted in its revolution to rid the Mongolian people from hardship. It was the correct position. But it divided the human population into low, middle, and rich strata and decided to rely on the low and middle strata and ignore the rich one. The first State Khural in 1924 approved the first Constitution, the Mongolia was named as the Mongolian People’s Republic. The constitution outlined the construction and scope of the State and the power of the State was vested in the State Great Khural(upper house). During recess of the State Great Khural (the State Little Khural) had to exercise authority over State Affairs.

The first State Khural elected commoner P.Gendeng as speaker of the State little Khural. The approval of the constitution was significant for the Mongolians but in case of external relations Mongolia was confined only to the Soviet Union. It had bad consequence upon the coming generation of Mongolia. The Komintern interfered extremely with the internal affairs of Mongolia between 1921-1932’s. It split the leaders of Mongolia into two factions. One was more leftist, other was more rightist. The rightists were blamed for ignoring reform and retard in development by sticking to the conservative views. It was the label of the Komintern. Then Prime-minister B.Tserendorj was claimed as head of the rightists.

The leading Members of this were claimed as A.Amar then first Vice-prime minister, J.Jadamba, chairman of the Central Committee of the Mongolian Revolutionary Party and T,Tseveen, officer of the Central Commission. They expressed their views that Mongolia should maintain equal relations with any country of the world, keep Buddhism as pure as possible and not mar that which had been venerated for many years. If so, there would be discontent among the ordinary people. Generally there was a possibility to become rich through labour without exploitation. Those were mere expressions which were consistent with the condition of Mongolia. In the January of 1928 the Komintern authorities convened the so called Mongolian commission. They rejected the rightist views and several officials were dismissed from their posts. Those dismissed officials were interned. The others who believed in the instructions and consultations of the Komintern without heed were recorded in the history of Mongolia as the leftists. Most of the leftists were little educated and unable to oppose the views of the Soviet Union. They decided to appropriate the private properties of high lamas and nobles and wealthy people. It was the inception of the blunder of the Mongolian Party and State policy.

According to a rough estimate 1554 lamas and Khutugts, reincarnations and nobles were expropriated by the Government between the September of 1929 and the February 17 of 1932. The total amount was equal to the 9 million 731717 tugricks in the value of that period. The next erroneous policy of the left deviation was the destruction of religious traditions even though the constitution allowed belief or nonbelief in religion. This policy infringed upon the constitution. Since 1929 the Government imposed duty on the buildings and properties of every monastery. The animal population of the monastries was 3.460.000 in 1928 and it was reduced by 8.7 times in 1933 to a total of 392392. This policy piqued the lamas and devotees. Revolts occasionally broke out in 1929-1930’s.

At the beginning of the April of 1932, there was the rebellion headed by about 10 lamas of the Khyalgant monastery of the Rashiant somon of the Khuvsgul aimag. A provisional council was set up to subdue the rebel forces. The rebels were suppressed in June and in July. The reason of this revolt in 1932 was the consequence of the policy of the party and Government, which aroused the indignation of the people, because of restrictions and political pressure against the traditions of Mongolia. This policy was carried out upon the Soviet leaders dictation and instruction. The resolution of the Komintern determining the seven mistakes of the Mongolian Party and Government concerning the Rebellion was reasonable and objective. But it did not mention about the instructions given by the Soviet leaders. At the end of the June and at the beginning of the July of 1932 the extraordinary III plenum of the Central Committee of the MPRP and the 17th plenary session of the State were consecutively held. They decided to change the policy being implemented in the economical, social and cultural fields of the country and to restore the policy implemented in the 1921-1928’s. It was termed in the history of Mongolia "the policy of new turn".

The policy of new turn started in 1932 resulted in good within a short span of time. Developments appeared in the economy, animal husbandry and culture. But the international situation aggravated and political massacre was rampant. The policy of new turn was interrupted. Since 1934 the policy was revived to gradually distance the young lamas from the monasteries and ban the functioning of temples. At the end of 1939 all the temples were closed and the official function of religion stopped. Even though the Komintern and the Communist Party of the Soviet Union initiated the policy of new turn, it veered toward an other direction. They did not favour the independent policy pursued by the Mongolian leaders orientated on the national democratic basis.

Stalin concocted the doctrine on the acuteness of the class struggle. Kh.Choibalsang was chosen to implement Stalin’s instruction to find out Japanese spies. The joint meeting of the presidium of the State little Khural (low house) and of the People’s Council approved the Special Commission consisting of three members headed Kh.Choibalsang. There was a list of 115 persons prepared by the home office of the Soviet Union. Its theme was "conspirasy’. As a result of it there was intensive arrest. It was the concomitant danger of mass massacre and this continued up to 1941. The best brains were butchered, imprisoned and sent into exile, many children orphaned and wives widowed. There was terrible wrench.

This was the great tragedy in the history of the nation. It left the big black stain. Between the September of 1937 up to the April of 1939 25824 persons were punished by the special commission. 20471 of them were executed. The 7th congress of the State Khural amended the act on the separation of the State and the religion and imposed the State control on the Monasteries and enforced its struggle against the lamas. False cases were concocted against the lamas. Over 700 temples and monasteries were destroyed between 1937-1939. Over 17000 lamas and monks were executed. This massacre and political repression conducted in Mongolia resulted from the genocide of the big power geopolitics.

As the result of the policy of Stalin conducted in Mongolia the despotism headed by Kh.Choibalsang dictated Mongolia. At that period there was economic depression in the history of the world capitalism in 1929-1933. The hot-beds of fascism in Europe and Asia cropped up. In the July of 1937 Japan started its war at a large scale against China. The Japanese in collaboration with the Manchu occasionally encroached upon the border of Mongolia and then invaded the Mongolian border with a strong military force on the May 28, 1939. It was on undeclared war. The Mongolia-Soviet Union protocol concluded in 1936 said that the Soviet Union would help Mongolia if it was attacked by the third force. According to this protocol, the Mongol-Soviet troops defeated the invading Japanese troops in the august of 1939. It was the period that the international relations exacerbated. Japan wanted to use Mongolia as its military base for its Asian expansion against the Soviet Union.

The Soviet Union used the Mongolian territory to help China against the Japanese aggression and to attenuate the attack of Japan. The tenth Congress of the MPRP was held in 1940. This Congress of the MPRP approved the third programme. The programme said that the policy of the Mongolian People’s Republic was directed to meet the need to advance a noncapitalist way of development so as to usher in communism by completely eliminating the remnants of the feudalism in the Mongolian economy and struggling against the feudalist vestiges in the people’s mentality. The eighth session of the State Khural was held in the June of 1940 in Ulaan-Baatar, and approved the new constitution. This constitution said that the Mongolian People’s Revolutionary Party was the force to lead all the social organisations of the country. It legalised the leadership of the MPRP. The constitution stipulated many rights to labour, free education and medical care without fees, belief, election, selection and publicity and so on. But it was not possible to enjoy those rights to a full extent under totalitarianism.

The principal problems were delineated. But those instructions given by the leaders of the Communist Party considered that the basis to build socialism was laid down. The second world war broke out. The Soviets-Mongolia-Japan negotiated and settled their border dispute in 1940. The Soviet Union and Japan concluded a treaty of neutrality and issued a special declaration in the april of 1941. This declaration played an important role in strengthening the external position of Mongolia and staving off the threat of war. In the wake of it, Hitler’s Germany invaded the Soviet Union on June 22, 1941. According to the protocol Mongolia expressed readiness to help the Soviet Union with every possibility. Mongolia didn’t directly became involved in the war, but the international circumstance compelled Mongolia to adjust itself to the condition of war. Within the soviet patriotic war period the Mongolian people sent about 60 million tugrics of gifts to the soviet red army. The war ended in the may of 1945 and peace prevailed in Europe.

But Japan in the east continued war against the allied nations and did not accept the demand to unconditionally surrender. According to the Potsdam agreement the Soviet Union, the United States of America and the United Kingdom declared the war against Japan on the August 9 of 1945. The presidium of the Little Khural of the Mongolian People’s Republic and the Council of Ministers declared the war against Japan on the August 10 of 1945. Within the first week from the start of the war our Mongolian troops together with soviet soldiers moved into China 450 km and liberated many towns and villages of China. Over 42 thousand troops of the Mongolian People’s Republic participated in the war against Japan and passed over the great Khyangan mountain range and traversed the great desert of Mongolia.

They advanced 950 km and were victorious. Japan signed the act of surrender on the September 2 of 1945. During the years of war the MPR firmly stood on the side of the United Nations and defeated the aggressors. Mongolia,thus, contributed its bit to safeguard world peace, and displayed its ability to be a Sovereign. The leaders of the Soviet Union, the United States and the United Kingdom agreed to keep intact the Status Quo of Outer Mongolia in the February of 1945 at Yalta conference. It consolidated the independence of Mongolia at an international level. 

Continue to the next page, Mongolia After 1945.