MONGOLIA BECOMES A COMMUNIST STATE
On November 26, 1924, the Mongolian People's Republic (MPR) was established. It was the world's second Communist country, the Soviet Union’s first satellite, and the only Soviet satellite in Asia. The Bogd Khan “disappeared” (earlier in 1924 he died under mysterious circumstances). Sukhbatar was declared head of the republic. The Chinese, Lama priests and Mongol princes who ruled the country were thrown out and rivals t the Communist regime were weeded out and secretly eliminated by Soviet and Mongolian Communists.
When the Second Party Congress of the Mongolian People's Party was held in July 1923, Mongolian-Soviet solidarity was reiterated amid calls, for the first time, in favor of purging "oppressor class elements" from the party. At this critical stage, several key leadership changes occurred that caused momentous political developments. On February 22, 1923, thirty-year-old revolutionary hero Sukhe Bator died of illness (although Choybalsan later claimed he had been poisoned), leaving the way clear for Choybalsan's eventual accession. Next, the Jebtsundamba Khutuktu died on May 20, 1924, and the People's Government, which had resolved to form a republic, forbade the traditional search for the reincarnation of the defunct ruler. This move eliminated the theocratic symbol of Mongolia. At the same time, a new Soviet treaty with China on May 31, 1924 (which provided for the withdrawal of Soviet troops from Mongolia), set the stage for the final step in the nominal independence of Mongolia. [Source: Library of Congress, June 1989 *]
The Third Party Congress of the Mongolian People's Party met in Niyslel Huree from August 4 to 24, 1924, but it quickly became embroiled in a debate led by party chairman Dandzan, who, like Bodoo, hoped to reduce Soviet influence. The congress culminated in the arrest and execution of the "capitalist" Dandzan. Among the achievements of the congress was purging the party of "useless elements" and renaming it the Mongolian People's Revolutionary Party. On November 25, 1924, with the adoption of a Soviet-style state constitution by the First National Great Hural, the new national assembly, the Mongolian People's Republic was formally established. The National Little Hural, the standing body when the National Great Hural was not in session, was elected; it, in turn, elected a cabinet with Balingiyn Tserendorj as premier and Choybalsan as commander in chief of the army. At the same time, Niyslel Huree was renamed Ulaanbaatar (literally, Red Hero). *
In the early 1920s, Russian White Guard remnants remained as brigands in remote parts of Mongolia, and Chinese bandits and detachments of warlord armies constantly encroached upon the borders. Thus one of the first orders of business for the new Mongolian government was to establish a strong and politically reliable army. To help suppress White Guard remnants and Chinese bandits and to carry out Comintern policy, detachments of the Soviet Red Army remained in Mongolia at least until 1925. Thereafter, until the revolts of the early 1930s and the Japanese border probes beginning in the mid-1930s, Red Army troops in Mongolia amounted to little more than instructors and guards for diplomatic and trading installations. *
Consolidation of the Mongolian People's Republic, 1925- 28
Soviet troops ostensibly were withdrawn in March 1925 (although some historians have debated whether all actually departed). Despite the treaty — between the Soviet Union and China — that acknowledged Outer Mongolia as an autonomous, but integral, part of China, the Soviet Union explicitly recognized Mongolia's independence of China in internal affairs and its ability to pursue an independent foreign policy. While continuing its cautious relationship with Beijing, Moscow made it clear that it would permit no Chinese encroachment on Mongolia. Mongolia's general foreign policy line was based on strong ties with the Soviet Union, "the reliable pillar of [Mongolia's] independence and prosperity" according to the party line. [Source: Robert L. Worden, Library of Congress, June 1989 *]
Under Moscow's guidance, the leftist leaders of Mongolia began to strengthen their still-weak position. The Mongolian communists, with Comintern help, gradually undermined the rightist elements in the Mongolian People's Revolutionary Party and attacked the power of the two great institutions that had dominated Mongolia for centuries: first the nobles; then, the abbots (whose monastic followers comprised at least one-third of the adult males). In this period of cautious consolidation, the party abolished the aristocracy's feudal privileges, a reform which had the initial effect of influencing wealthy nobles to embark on capitalist ventures, such as investing in the new cooperatives. Gradually, however, the revolutionaries built a state-guided economy supported by Mongolian cooperatives and by Soviet trade. *
Moscow's economic hold on Mongolia tightened as exports to the Soviet Union rose rapidly from about 14 percent of Mongolia's total production (chiefly livestock and animal products), in 1923 to 1924, to 85 percent, in 1928 to 1929. By 1929 Mongolia's imports lagged far behind its exports. Aside from the provision of technical and political advisers, Soviet trade policy did not yet provide for economic development aid to newer socialist countries as had been envisioned by Lenin in 1920. *
Other areas of the economy showed more progress. The Mongolian National Bank, established in 1924 as a joint Mongolian-Soviet company, issued the tugrik, the new national currency, as part of monetary reform. The cooperative movement, directed by the Mongolian Building Cooperative, began to show impressive results. A standardized tax system was instituted, and other administrative reforms slowly took hold. The army, equipped and trained by the Soviets, was steadily growing and improving. The government refrained from a direct attack on the venerated religious establishment, but some higher-level monks were imprisoned and executed. *
Although the Mongolian communists had not yet overthrown the conservatives in the government and the economic sectors during this period, they had gained progressively in strength as evidenced by the changes they had made in society (see Society). Slowly, the young Soviet-taught Mongols were taking over the political, the military, and the economic apparatus. Many nobles retained their wealth, however, and the number of monastics actually increased between 1925 and 1928. Nearly 90 percent of all trade was controlled by Chinese firms in Mongolia. The Fourth Party Congress (September 1925), the Fifth Party Congress (September 1926), and the Sixth Party Congress (September 1927) had witnessed policy struggles between leftist and rightist elements that presaged the victory of the left. *
Mongolia in the Stalin Era
When Vladimir Lenin was in power in Bolshevik Russia, the Mongolian Communists were relatively independent of Moscow. They were not the nicest of people; they killed their share of rivals. But things got worse after Josef Stalin came to power in the Soviet Union in the 1920s. Extremism bordered on national disaster before evolving into more moderate policies of a new Mongolian socialism characterized by closely planned economic growth. Joint Mongolian-Soviet armies successfully fended off Japanese military advances in 1939.
Mongolia’s new Communist government had invited the Soviet Union to provide to protection. Stalin used this as an invitation to replace all the Mongolian revolutionaries with puppets of his own choosing. Some former MPRP leader, including Sukhe Bator, died under mysterious circumstances.
Khorloo Choibalsan, the so-called Mongolian Stalin, was selected as a puppet leader. A former monk and leader in the 1921 revolution, he served as Premier from 1939 to 1952. He reportedly secured his position by assassinating rivals and was held responsible for the purges of the 1930s. Today, he is largely despised but is given some credit for ignoring Stalin’s orders and launching attack into Inner Mongolia in an effort to reunify the Mongolian people, and preventing Mongolia from being made a republic of the Soviet Union.
Beginning in 1921, the Communist rulers attacked the hereditary aristocracy, killing tens of thousands of princes, princesses and lamas. In 1925, last names were banned as way of disconnecting people from their class and clan loyalties and relatives killed by the Communists. More than 27,000 people (3 percent of the Mongolian population) were killed in the 1920 and 30s in purges and factional fighting between "rightists" and "leftists." Many were Buddhist monks (See Below).
Economic Development in Mongolia Under the Soviets
Mongolia's economic development under communist control can be divided into three periods: 1921-1939; 1940-1960; and 1961 to the present. During the first period, which the Mongolian government called the stage of "general democratic transformation," the economy remained primarily agrarian and underdeveloped. After an abortive attempt to collectivize herders, or arads, livestock raising remained in private hands. The state began to develop industry based on processing of animal husbandry products and crop raising on state farms. Transportation, communications, domestic and foreign trade, and banking and finance were nationalized with Soviet assistance; they were placed under the control of Mongolian state and cooperative organizations or Mongolian-Soviet joint-stock companies. Ulaanbaatar became the nation's industrial center. [Source: Library of Congress, June 1989 *]
During the second period, called the "construction of the foundations of socialism," agriculture was collectivized, and industry was diversified into mining, timber processing, and consumer goods production. Central planning of the economy began in 1931 with an abortive five-year pland and with annual plans in 1941; five-year plans began a new with the First Five-Year Plan (1948-52). Soviet aid increased, financing the construction of the trans-Mongolia railroad — the Ulaanbaatar Railroad — and various industrial projects. China also provided assistance, primarily in the form of labor for infrastructure projects. Although industrial development still was concentrated in Ulaanbaatar, economic decentralization began with the completion of the Ulaanbaatar Railroad and the establishment of food processing plants in aymag centers.*
The third stage, which the government called the "completion of the construction of the material and technical basis of socialism," saw further industrialization and agricultural growth, aided largely by Mongolia's joining the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (Comecon) in 1962. Soviet and East European financial and technical assistance in the forms of credits, advisers, and joint ventures enabled Mongolia to modernize and to diversify industry, particularly in mining. New industrial centers were built in Baga Nuur, Choybalsan, Darhan, and Erdenet, and industrial output rose significantly. Although animal husbandry was stagnant, crop production increased dramatically with the development of virgin lands by state farms. Foreign trade with Comecon nations grew substantially. Transportation and communications systems were improved, linking population and industrial centers and extending to more remote rural areas. In the late 1980s, Mongolia had developed into an agricultural-industrial economy, but the inefficiencies of a centrally planned and managed economy and the example of perestroika in the Soviet Union led Mongolian leaders to undertake a reform program to develop the economy further. *
Communists Take Control of the Mongolian Economy in the 1920s
In the 1920s, Under Moscow's guidance, the leftist leaders of Mongolia began to strengthen their still-weak position. The Mongolian communists, with Comintern help, gradually undermined the rightist elements in the Mongolian People's Revolutionary Party and attacked the power of the two great institutions that had dominated Mongolia for centuries: first the nobles; then, the abbots (whose monastic followers comprised at least one-third of the adult males). In this period of cautious consolidation, the party abolished the aristocracy's feudal privileges, a reform which had the initial effect of influencing wealthy nobles to embark on capitalist ventures, such as investing in the new cooperatives. Gradually, however, the revolutionaries built a state-guided economy supported by Mongolian cooperatives and by Soviet trade. [Source: Robert L. Worden, Library of Congress, June 1989 *]
Moscow's economic hold on Mongolia tightened as exports to the Soviet Union rose rapidly from about 14 percent of Mongolia's total production (chiefly livestock and animal products), in 1923 to 1924, to 85 percent, in 1928 to 1929. By 1929 Mongolia's imports lagged far behind its exports. Aside from the provision of technical and political advisers, Soviet trade policy did not yet provide for economic development aid to newer socialist countries as had been envisioned by Lenin in 1920. *
Other areas of the economy showed more progress. The Mongolian National Bank, established in 1924 as a joint Mongolian-Soviet company, issued the tugrik, the new national currency, as part of monetary reform. The cooperative movement, directed by the Mongolian Building Cooperative, began to show impressive results. A standardized tax system was instituted, and other administrative reforms slowly took hold. The army, equipped and trained by the Soviets, was steadily growing and improving. The government refrained from a direct attack on the venerated religious establishment, but some higher-level monks were imprisoned and executed. * ▪ Although the Mongolian communists had not yet overthrown the conservatives in the government and the economic sectors during this period, they had gained progressively in strength as evidenced by the changes they had made in society (see Society). Slowly, the young Soviet-taught Mongols were taking over the political, the military, and the economic apparatus. Many nobles retained their wealth, however, and the number of monastics actually increased between 1925 and 1928. Nearly 90 percent of all trade was controlled by Chinese firms in Mongolia. The Fourth Party Congress (September 1925), the Fifth Party Congress (September 1926), and the Sixth Party Congress (September 1927) had witnessed policy struggles between leftist and rightist elements that presaged the victory of the left. *
Purges of the Opposition, 1928-32
A decisive clash between leftists and rightists occurred at the Seventh Party Congress from late October to December 10, 1928. After forty-eight days of debate, party chairman TserenOchiryn Dambadorj was exiled to Moscow, and other rightist members were expelled as the left seized control of the party and the government. With their power now secure at the top and with party opinion united on major policy goals, the leftists accelerated their programs. [Source: Robert L. Worden, Library of Congress, June 1989 *]
Strong Soviet backing was assured by Stalin, who in the meantime had triumphed over his political foes in Moscow. In addition, after 1927 Soviet caution toward China no longer was necessary; Stalin was no longer constrained by his relationship with Chiang Kai-shek's Kuomintang, or Chinese Nationalist Party, which had broken with the Chinese Communist Party and had consolidated its rule over eastern China from Nanjing. Both domestic and international changes had freed Mongolian leftists for radical changes. *
Policies confirming the party line of developing the country along noncapitalist lines were ratified by the Fifth National Great Hural in December 1928. As conservative officials were eliminated from the government, Choybalsan was chosen as head of the National Little Hural.
Brutal Collectivization in Mongolia
After leftist leaders came to power in Mongolia in the late 1920s they called for the immediate confiscation of feudal property, the development of a five-year plan, the collectivization of stockbreeders, the ouster of Chinese traders, and the implementation of the Soviet trade monopoly. These extreme measures followed standard Soviet economic policy. In less-sophisticated Mongolia, however, the economic situation seemed to defy such planning. The basically nomadic society was largely illiterate, and there was no industrial proletariat; the aristocracy and the religious establishment held a large share of the country's wealth; popular obedience to traditional authorities continued to be widespread; the party lacked grass-roots support; and the government had little organization or experience. Nevertheless, the party was receptive to Moscow's directives; and the Mongolian revolutionaries made mistakes similar to those of the Soviets through an excess of zeal, intolerance, and inexperience. [Source: Robert L. Worden, Library of Congress, June 1989 *]
The first harsh repression of opposition came in 1929. Under the direction of Choybalsan, more than 600 feudal estates (herds and fixed property) were confiscated and were given to members of the laity and to monks who left their monasteries. In 1931 and 1932, the property of more than 800 religious and secular leaders was seized, and more than 700 heads of households were killed or imprisoned. The antireligious campaign was three-pronged: ordinary monks were forced to leave the monasteries and enter the army or the economy; monks of middle status were put in prison camps; and those of highest rank were killed. Collectivization followed expropriation, and by 1931 more than one-third of the stock-raising households had been forcibly communized. *
The brutal collectivization of herdsmen was rapid, and it caused bloody uprisings. Although the Eighth Party Congress from February to April 1930 had recognized that the country was unprepared for total socialization, the party reaction to opposition was to reenforce its measures nevertheless. The massive shift from private property to collectivization and communization was accelerated. The party then attacked the entire monastic class, the nobility, the nomads, and the nationalists, while purging its own ranks. The government imposed high and indiscriminate taxes, confiscated private property, banned private industry, forced craft workers to join mutual aid cooperatives, and nationalized foreign and domestic trade and transportation. *
Rescinding Mongolia’s Disastrous Collectivization
Extremism produced near-disaster. The power of the monks and the feudal nobles finally was broken, Chinese traders and other foreign capitalists were ousted, and still greater dependence on Soviet aid was required (see Suppression of Buddhism). The mechanical imposition of communes on an unprepared nomadic sheep-herding and cattle-herding society, however, resulted in the slaughter of 7 million animals in three years by angry and frightened herders. Mongolia's economy, which rested entirely on animal husbandry, was severely affected. The failure of communes, the hasty destruction of private trade, and inadequate Soviet supplies contributed to spreading famine. By 1931 to 1932, thousands were suffering severe food shortages, which, together with the people's reaction to terror, had brought the nation to the verge of civil war. Finally the government was forced to call in troops and tanks; with Soviet assistance, it suppressed the spreading anticommunist rebellion in western Mongolia. [Source: Robert L. Worden, Library of Congress, June 1989 *]
In May 1932, a month after anticommunist uprisings in western Mongolia, the Comintern and the Communist Party of the Soviet Union directed the Mongolian party to end its extremism. The next month, the party Central Committee rejected its prior policy as "leftist deviation" and expelled several top leaders as "leftwing adventurers." Choybalsan announced that "the overall development of our country has not yet entered the stage of socialism, and also it is wrong to copy Soviet experience in every single thing." The entire socioeconomic pattern was swiftly changed. The collective farm experiment was dropped, worker cooperatives were abandoned, the cattle tax was reduced, and herders and peasants again were allowed to hold private property. Foreign trade, still channeled exclusively to the Soviet Union, continued to be controlled by the state, however. Under continuing Soviet protection and domination, Mongolia now settled down to a period of gradual social change. *
An underlying reason for Moscow's reversal of the course of Mongolian socialism had been the growing Japanese threat. The September 18, 1931, Mukden incident had opened the way for Japan to establish Manchukuo (Japanese-controlled Manchuria). Mongolians were not alone in the fear that Japan might try to establish a Japanese-controlled Mongolian monarchy, Mengkukuo. *
Repression of Buddhism in the Soviet Era
Buddhism and other religions were brutally suppressed by the Communists. The teaching of Buddhism and both Buddhist and shamanist festivals were forbidden. Land owned by monks was seized and Buddhist shrines cleared away to make way for drab highrises and broad empty boulevards. Buddhism itself was labeled a superstition.
Despite the government's official policy of not overtly persecuting religious beliefs, its antireligious campaign continued slowly but relentlessly. Emphasis was placed on ideological and economic persuasion, which curtailed monastic growth and induced monks of lower rank to return to secular life. Government representatives were attached to monasteries to monitor their activities, construction of new monasteries was forbidden by law, the enrollment of minors was disallowed, and monks became eligible for military service. Many monasteries were destroyed; others were converted to secular use. Methods of suppression became especially bloody in the second half of the 1930s. In 1935 abbots and monks of higher rank were tried publicly; in 1937 and 1938, about 2,000 of them were executed. Thousands of others were arrested and jailed. The financially shattered monasteries gradually were closed in the period 1938 to 1939. [Source: Robert L. Worden, Library of Congress, June 1989 *]
The Communists saw the Buddhist establishment as a threat. In 1921, the Tibetan Buddhist establishment controlled 20 percent of Mongolia’s wealth and a third of the country’s male population (110,000 individuals) were monks. In 1924 when the 8th Jebtzun Damba (Bogd Khan) died the Communists prevented a new Jebtzun Damba from being named. Mongolians believe the 9th Jebtzun Damba was reincarnated later and now lives near the Dalai Lama in Dharmasala, India.
In the 1930s a ruthless anti-religion purge was launched by the Mongolian government. All but four of Mongolia’s 700 monasteries were destroyed by Mongolian Communists assisted by the NKVD (precursor of the KGB). The art in them was destroyed. Gold and silver objects were carted off to the Soviet Union and melted down. Only one lamasery was allowed to stay open.
The campaign against the Buddhists was largely successful. Within two decades, the resident monastic population was reduced from about 15,000 to approximately 200 monks. A handful of small monasteries and one large institution were all that were left physically of what had been, at the century's start, the best organized and most intellectual force in Mongolian life. More than 17,000 Buddhist priests and monks “disappeared” and are presumed to have been killed or sent to gulags in Siberia. In 2002, the remains of 600 lamas was found at a monastery. Each was buried with his hands tied behind his back and a bullet hole in his skull.
Andrea Sachs wrote in the Washington Post: “The Great Purge of the late 1930s drastically thinned the ranks of Buddhist leaders, through exile and execution. (The number of lamas fell from a pre-Soviet high of 100,000 to about 5,000 today.) Though Buddhism is the dominant religion, the Grand Lama of Gandan Khiid Monastery said the religion is still struggling to recover. “We lost several generations of lamas who would be inheriting this generation,” the Venerable Khamba said in his Buddha-bedecked office. “We don’t have enough people to deliver our message and teachings to the countryside. We are trying to build it back up.” [Source: Andrea Sachs, Washington Post, May 13, 2011]
In 1985, there were only 100 lamas in Mongolia, and they were all at Ganden Monastery, which accepted only 1 in 5 applicants. People kept Buddhism alive at home. Standing beside portraits of Lenin on the family alter were images of Buddha. Some lamas buried religious treasures and told their sons and grandsons to dig them up when it was safe. In one case 62 boxes of objects was buried in the Gobi and were dug up a monk’s grandson when Mongolia became independent in 1990.
New Turn Policy and Economic Gradualism in the 1930s
The new policy of socioeconomic gradualism — the New Turn Policy — continued until the mid-1940s, when Mongolian socialism entered its modern stage of collectivization and economic growth. The Ninth Party Congress in September and October 1934 pronounced the New Turn a success, but it became obvious that this gradualism actually had been determined by the basic Soviet need to maintain Mongolia as a stable buffer state against either Japanese or Chinese expansion. At the beginning of this period, the Soviets did not want to enlarge Mongolia's small-scale industries because this might provide a further incentive for Japanese invasion. Instead, Mongolia's raw materials were used to strengthen the Soviet Union, while Soviet Red Army units and a large cavalry-oriented Mongolian People's Revolutionary Army were deployed to defend Mongolia against attack. [Source: Robert L. Worden, Library of Congress, June 1989 *]
On November 27, 1934, a Mongolian-Soviet "gentlemen's agreement" was reached that provided for mutual assistance in the face of Japanese advances in Manchuria and Inner Mongolia. In January 1935, Soviet troops reentered Mongolia as Japanese forces began to probe the Mongolian-Manchurian border. On March 12, 1936, the 1934 agreement was upgraded when the ten-year Mongolian-Soviet Treaty of Friendship — which included a mutual defense protocol — was signed. The pact did not mention Chinese sovereignty over Mongolia, and Moscow ignored Chinese protests. *
In addition to concluding defense treaties with the Soviet Union, Mongolia concentrated on building its army with Soviet guidance and military aid. In 1936 military expenditures were doubled, and by 1938 more than half of Mongolia's budget was for defense. The government built paved roads, extended railroads, and established military air bases and communication lines, all with Soviet aid. Military equipment and training also were supplied by the Soviet Union. It is estimated that during World War II the Mongolian Army numbered between 80,000 and 100,000 troops, a huge percentage of the total population of 900,000. *
Security concerns and a more conservative economic approach prevented major advances in stock raising and other internal development during this period. A few small Mongolian-Soviet enterprises were initiated to support the war economy. The abandonment of agricultural communes and the return to private enterprise signaled a trend toward gradualism. Voluntary producers' cooperatives were encouraged, but they remained small until the 1950s (see Peacetime Development, 1946-52). Only a few state farms were started. Apart from some veterinary and credit assistance, the government made few efforts to support the nomads, and by 1941 herds had reached the highest recorded growth in Mongolian history. Consumer cooperatives continued to expand, and the state controlled the rest of internal trade. *
The policy of gradualism was particularly ineffective in education. In 1941 an estimated 90 percent of the people were illiterate. In 1942 the country's first university — Choybalsan University, later renamed Mongolian State University — was established in Ulaanbaatar, but the spread of general education had to await the late 1940s and the 1950s. The first large-scale literacy program did not begin until 1947 (see Education). *
Purges and Politics Under the New Turn Policy, 1932-40
There also were renewed purges in the inner party ranks in 1937 to 1939. Minor rebellions continued to plague the government, and uncooperative political leaders increasingly were accused of aiding the opposition or the Japanese. One after the other, many top party and government officials fell from power and were executed or were imprisoned. By 1939 Choybalsan had emerged as the premier, the minister of war, and the undisputed leader of Mongolia. It later was acknowledged, in 1956 and in 1962, that Choybalsan had "committed serious errors" and had established a "personality cult" during this period[Source: Robert L. Worden, Library of Congress, June 1989 *]
By some estimates the Great Purge of the late 1930s claimed more than 36,000 lives in Mongolia. Andrea Sachs wrote in the Washington Post: “In 1937, Russian communists executed the Mongolian prime minister. His crime: not supporting Stalin’s orders to purge the country of insubordinates, such as Buddhist monks, politicians, military officials and intellectuals. “They accused my grandfather of being an enemy of the state, of being a spy for Japan,” said Bekhbat Sodnom at the Memorial Museum of Victims of Political Persecution in Ulaanbaatar “We were not allowed to talk about my grandfather.” [Source: Andrea Sachs, Washington Post, May 13, 2011]
In March and April 1940, the Tenth Party Congress met. Although it confirmed Yumjaagiyn Tsedenbal as general secretary, Choybalsan continued to be the predominant force in the party. The ensuing Eighth National Great Hural adopted a new state constitution, which, however, made no basic alterations in the 1924 constitution. Although it emphasized the new Mongolian authority structure, the bypassing of capitalism, and the necessity of overall state planning, the 1940 constitution did not change the policy of gradualism. Private ownership, especially of livestock, was allowed until the turn to total communization began in late 1947.
Mongolian Military in the 1930s
In the late 1920s and the early 1930s, the army frequently was called on to put down widespread popular revolts led by nobles and monks. The revolts erupted from a basic feeling of nationalism (particularly in western Mongolia), from opposition to the pro- Soviet line, and from the government's extreme measures in forcing collectivization of stock raising and harsh actions against the monks. The revolts culminated in an uprising by 13 detachments of more than 3,000 troops in April 1932; it was put down by the Mongolian army, assisted by a large Soviet Red Army force. By the mid-1930s, the communist government had suppressed the insurgency. It then decided that a more reliable army was necessary, both for internal security and for actions as a forward screen for Soviet troop deployment in the event of a Japanese invasion. [Source: Robert L. Worden, Library of Congress, June 1989 *]
As the army recovered from the revolt, it began rebuilding. The number of young Mongolians on active duty increased annually. During this period, the army acted as an important unifier of the population, in effect supplanting the liquidated monasteries in this role. In striving for national reinvigoration, the army's military role was less important than its social and political roles. A Soviet observer wrote that the army taught the soldier to read and write the national language and converted him into a politically aware soldier-citizen. Soviet arms and military equipment were provided to the expanding army, and Soviet officers acted not only as instructors, but also as unit advisers and commanders. These arrangements were formalized first in November 1934, when a Mongolian-Soviet "gentlemen's agreement" was reached in Moscow to provide for mutual assistance in the event of attack. This accord was unpublished, because Moscow still nominally recognized the Chinese government.
Monasticism directly inhibited military buildup. Therefore, it was imperative that the monasteries be dealt with. During the period of the "leftist deviation" in the early 1930s, almost half the monasteries had been closed. This policy was relaxed during the insurrectionary period between 1933 and 1936, however, and the monasteries were reopened. By 1936 the monastic population had increased by 10,000 to more than 100,000 — 11 percent of the total population and 35 percent of men of military age. This drain adversely affected the government's ability to meet the increasing personnel requirements both for defense and for economic production. Monastic influence also perpetuated a general lack of interest among the general population in establishing an effective national army. The government, therefore, undertook drastic measures against the monks. Monasteries were taxed severely for each monk of military age who did not respond to the military call-up. A law was passed requiring the first son of every family to enter the army when of age; the second son was to remain with the family to work; only the third son was permitted to enter the monastery. Because few Mongol families had more than two sons, this measure was effective in diminishing the monastic population. Monastic power was reduced, senior monks were liquidated, and monks of middle- rank were imprisoned. Finally, ordinary monks were forced out of the monasteries, which then were destroyed, and all monastic livestock (10 to 15 percent of the national total) was confiscated. By 1939 these repressive measures had ended monasticism and had released a substantial reservoir of manpower for military service and for the civilian economy.*
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Last updated April 2016