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Yumjaagiin Tsedenbal (Юмжаагийн Цэдэнбал; September 17, 1916 – April 20, 1991) was a Mongolian politician who effectively ruled the Mongolian People's Republic from 1952 to 1984 by occupying a series of consecutive and sometimes concurrent leadership offices. During his prolonged career, he served as General Secretary of the Mongolian People's Revolutionary Party (MPRP), Prime Minister, Chairman of the Presidium of the Mongolian State Great Khural, and President. His close association with Soviet Russian leadership earned him the moniker "the Mongolian Khruschev" early in his tenure, and later "the Mongolian Brezhnev".

The offspring of a poor herding family from far northwestern Mongolia, Tsedenbal was singled out by Soviet agents for advancement from an early age. He rose quickly through the ranks and at age 24 was named General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Mongolian People's Party in 1940 upon the recommendation of Josef Stalin. When his mentor and the country's autocratic ruler Khorloogiin Choibalsan died in 1952, Tsedenbal succeeded him as Prime Minister. He retained power in one form or another for the next 32 years, becoming one of the longest serving leaders in the Communist world.

Tsedenbal's rule was characterized by lackluster industrial and agricultural development and inconsistent attempts at urbanization. Heavy-handed repression of political opponents and academics and creeping bureaucratic centralism increased his political control but also dragged the country into pervasive economic and cultural stagnation. Although Mongolia overcame diplomatic isolation to gain growing international recognition during Tsedenbal's tenure, including entry into the United Nations, his strong affinity for Russian language and culture further intensified the country's dependence on the Soviet Union. His Russian wife, Anastasia Ivanovna Filatova (Анастасия Ивановна Филатова), was often said to be one of the most powerful political figures in Mongolia due to her close relationship with the Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev. Later in life, Tsedenbal promoted a cult of personality around himself despite having denounced his predecessor for having done the same.

In August 1984 the Soviets forced Tsedenbal into retirement while he was vacationing in Moscow, ostensibly on account of his old age and mental weakness but at least partly because of his opposition to Sino-Soviet rapprochement and failure to adapt to Soviet policies of perestroika and glasnost. Tsedenbal never returned to Mongolia and died in Moscow in 1991; his remains were later brought to Mongolia and buried.

Origins and education
Tsedenbal was born on September 17, 1916 into a nomadic ethnic Dörvöd family in Bayan Chandamani Uul banner of the Unen Zorigt Khan Province (present day Davst sum in Uvs Province, located in extreme north-western Mongolia near the Russian border). He was the fifth of eleven children born to an unwed mother (three of his siblings died in infancy). In 1925 he became one of the first students to enroll in the newly organized public school in Ulaangom. After graduating in 1929, he was among 22 students recruited by the Soviet NKVD to study at a special Mongolian preparatory school or Rabfak (Рабфак or Рабочий факультет ) in Irkutsk in the Soviet Union. He joined the Mongolian Revolutionary Youth League (MRYL) in 1931 and then enrolled in the Institute of Finance and Economics in Irkutsk (Финансово-экономический институт), completing his degree in July 1938. During a special post-graduation tour of Moscow, he impressed Communist Party Central Committee members who then singled him out for advancement.

Secretary General of the MPRP
Tsedenbal returned to Mongolia in September 1938 and swiftly rose through the ranks of government, first teaching at the Ministry of Finance for six months before being promoted to Deputy Finance Minister in March 1939 on the recommendation of the Soviet diplomatic representative in Ulaanbaatar, A. Ivanov. He officially joined the Mongolian People’s Revolutionary Party (MPRP; now the Mongolian People’s Party) in 1939 and later that year accompanied Mongolia’s leader Khorloogiin Choibalsan to Moscow where Josef Stalin urged Tsedenbal be named Secretary General of the MPRP. Heeding orders, Choibalsan orchestrated the purge of then party leader Banzarjavyn Baasanjav and the election of Tsedenbal to take his place at 10th Party Congress in March 1940. At the age of 24 Tsedenbal became the second most powerful politician in Mongolia.

World War II
Soon thereafter he was promoted to Finance Minister and named Chairman of the Board of the Bank of Trade and Industry. During the Second World War he mobilized Mongolia's efforts to support the Soviet Union with livestock, raw materials, money, food, and military clothing. Awarded the rank of Lieutenant General of the Mongolian People's Army and head of its Political Directorate, he inspected Mongolian aid deliveries for the Soviet war effort and toured the battle front. In January 1943, he accompanied Choibalsan to Moscow to present the Revolyutsionnaya Mongoliya tank regiment to the Red Army. Domestically, Tsedenbal oversaw the country's adaption of the Cyrilic alphabet, replacing the traditional Mongolian script, and supported the establishment of Choibalsan University, inaugurated on October 5, 1942, which was financed largely by the Soviets and offered courses taught in Russian.

Post war policies
In 1945, Tsedenbal was named head of the State Planning Commission (GOSPLAN) and immediately pursued economic policies that aimed to restore Mongolia’s economy, hobbled by the war and the political repressions of the 1930s, and entrench Soviet-style socialism more firmly into Mongolia’s economy and culture. Special emphasis was given to developing the country's agricultural sector. He announced Mongolia’s first 5 year plan in 1947, one goal of which was to double livestock population, a goal it ultimately failed to achieve. The 1949 Communist victory in China eliminated, at least temporarily, the threat on Mongolia's southern border allowing the MPR to cut its military budget and reduce the size of Mongolia’s 80,000-troop standing army. Defense expenditures dropped from 33 percent of the total budget in 1948 to 15 percent in 1952.

Collective Leadership
In 1948 Tsedenbal became deputy prime minister, and although he remained part of Choibalsan’s inner circle until the latter’s death on January 26, 1952, his accession to the country’s leadership was not assured. In the power struggle that followed, Tsedenbal allied with MPRP Second Secretary Dashiin Damba to prevent hardliners, led by Chimeddorjiin Surenjav, from seizing power. With Damba’s backing, Tsedenbal was officially named prime minister (or premier), on May 27, 1952. Two years later, the MPRP moved to devolve political power away from a single individual and instead instituted a system of collective leadership based on the example of the Communist Party in the USSR after the death of Stalin. At the Twelfth Party Congress in 1954, Tsedenbal remained Prime Minister, but surrendered the post of Party General Secretary to Damba.

After Nikita Khruschev denounced Josef Stalin at the 20th Party Congress in 1956 and launched de-Stalinization reforms in the USSR, the MPRP Central Committee followed suit and condemned Choibalsan's "personality cult," specifically the violent excesses of the 1937 to 1939 period. Tsedenbal guardedly supported criticism of his former mentor, but as a potential target of de-Stalinization purges himself (he was an accomplice in some of the purges carried out under Choibalsan), he also moved to blunt any serious repercussions. Tsedenbal still revered Choibalsan and just two years earlier in 1954 had Choibalsan and Damdin Sukhbaatar’s remains interred in a large mausoleum on Sukhbaatar Square. When Damba supported the creation of a commission to reexamine cases from the Choibalsan period, Tsedenbal blocked the move, resulting in a political rift between the two leaders.

Consolidation of power
In March 1958, Damba was reelected MPRP General Secretary at the Thirteenth Party Congress. Tsedenbal orchestrated his dismissal and internal exile six months later on ideological grounds. There followed a series of purges within party ranks as Tsedenbal, following Khruschev's example, sough to consolidate his power. Politburo members (name) Damdin, (name) Lamchin, and Chimeddorjiin Surenjav were purged and banished to remote parts of the country for “not conforming to ideological standards” along with whispered accusations that they conspired with the Chinese. Many intellectuals were also persecuted including over 100 teachers at the State University who were purged (dismissed, arrested, and then exiled to remote areas of the country). Tsedenbal became the MRP's undisputed leader, remaining the MPRP Chairman until 1984 while also holding the offices of prime minister (until 1974) then president (1974-1984). The 1960s witnessed more rounds of purges as Tsedenbal cemented political control. In 1962 he orchestrated the purge of Politburo member Daramyn Tömör-Ochir who had supervised plans to celebrate the 800th anniversary of the birth of Genghis Khan. The efforts drew criticism from the Soviet Communist Party newspaper Pravda and Tömör-Ochir was exiled to a remote part of the country for the crimes of intriguing against other party leaders, being a careerist, and trying to inflame nationalist passions. In December 1964, three members of the Central Committee, Bandiin Surmaajav, Baldandorjiin Nyambuu, publicly accused Tsedenbal of turning the MPRP into a “petty bourgeois party” and fostering a “Tsedenbal Personality Cult”. All three were quickly purged for “anti-party crimes” and banished to the Mongolian countryside.

Foreign Affairs
In the mid-1950s Tsedenbal spearheaded establishment of relations with countries beyond the communist bloc; India, Burma, Cambodia, nations in Africa and the Middle East, and later, Cuba. In 1956, Soviet troops were withdrawn from Mongolia despite lingering fears of a renewed Chinese dominance, giving Mongolia more control over its own internal affairs. With Moscow’s help, Mongolia had gathered enough support from communist and Third World countries to be admitted to the United Nations in October 1961. The following June, Mongolia joined the Soviet-sponsored Council for Mutual Economic Assistance. As part of its alliance with the Soviet Union, Mongolia signed the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty in 1963.

The visit of Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev to Ulaanbaatar at the height of the Sino-Soviet split in 1966 represented a high point in Soviet-Mongolian relations. Mongolia had become concerned anew over China's designs on its sovereignty, especially in light of the excesses of China's Cultural Revolution. Brezhnev and Tsedenbal signed a twenty-year Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation, and Mutual Assistance, which included a defense clause that once again led to a buildup in Mongolia of Soviet troops and military infrastructure (including bases, roads, airfields, sheltered fighter aircraft sites, radar detection networks, communication lines, and missile sites). Heightened Sino-Soviet tensions in 1969 resulted in even more Soviet troops being stationed in Mongolia, which had become the front line of Soviet defenses against China.

Economic Policies
Following Choibalsan's death, Tsedenbal sought foreign investment to prop up Mongolia’s economy. In 1952 he signed a ten-year Sino-Mongolian Agreement on Economic and Cultural Cooperation under which China helped build railroad lines, gave aid and loans for construction projects, and even sent large contingents of laborers to Mongolia in the mid- 1950s. He also took advantage of improved Sino-Soviet relations to sign agreements with Moscow and Beijing to create the Trans-Mongolian Railway. Nevertheless, Mongolia remained heavily dependent on Soviet aid. It funded the country’s special Three-Year Plan (1958-60), aimed at transforming Mongolia from a livestock economy to an agricultural-industrial economy. New weight was placed on building up industrial capacities particularly in the coal mining, electric power, and construction sectors, and on increasing output of petroleum industry products, minerals, and nonferrous ores. The Mongolian-Soviet agreement establishing the Erdenet copper mining combine in 1973 achieved modest progress in developing the country's rare earth sector.

Economic inertia soon took hold however as planned increases in agricultural and industrial production never materialized. Tsedenbal’s efforts to to expand the country's industrial base and transform the nomadic economy into one with ranch-style livestock herding suffered severe setbacks following harsh winters and subsequent droughts that destroyed harvests and dwindled exports. He was forced to admit that the economy envisioned in the Fourth Five-Year Plan (1966-70) had "not developed as rapidly as those of fraternal socialist states." The Seventh 5 year plan (81-85), saw similar results. The economy suffered, hearding due to harsh winters and collectivization, attemps to increase agriculture failed, as new crops failed to take in new planting areas. https://archive.org/details/CIA-RDP85T00287R001401040003-1/page/n3 Mongolians began referring to Tsedenbal as "The Khan of Stagnation" for his disastrous economic policies.

Bureaucratic Atrophy
Tsedenbal's consolidation of political power through continuous purges and tedious regulations that touched on all aspects of Mongolian life (for example, the party ordered the registration of ownership of all typewriters, duplicators, and photocopiers in an effort to control the dissemination of information) ultimately led to a creeping “bureaucratic centralism” by the late 1960s. (435) Political dogmatism took hold as the Politburo remained relatively unchanged from 1966 to 1981. The country atrophied culturally (wth the repression of???)

Presidency
Tsedenbal's accession to the presidency followed a pattern set by other communist leaders Tito, Ceaucescu, Kim Il Sung (Asian Review Published by: University of California Press, Article DOI: 10.2307/2643508, Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2643508, pg 971), also for international prestige and a less taxing workload as he aged. (AS 793) Shortly after the death of the long serving president Jamsrangiin Sambuu Prime Minister Tsedenbal had planned to ascend to the position himself after Sambuu's death, but political and health considerations caused him to delay this move (source). On June 11, 1974 Tsedenbal resigned his chairmanship of the Council of Ministers (prime minister) and upon Acting Chairman Sonomyn Luvsan's enthusiastic endorsement was unanimously elected to the Chairmanship of the People's Great Khural, ending Luvsan's tenure as acting president. Jambyn Batmönkh, then deputy prime minister and a former director of the National University of Mongolia  was then chosen to succeed Tsedenbal as prime minister.

Cult of personality
Despite taking on the more ceremonial role of President, Tsedenbal held onto the Party Chairmanship ensuring still held the reigns of power. He was fond of sporting 11 rows of medals and an army marshal's star studded with diamonds. (somethings he did during this period)...

It was also at this time taht Tsedenbal began to build a cult of personality around himself (what?)

Continued purges
By the start of the 1980s, Tsedenbal's behavior became increasingly authoritarian and notably erratic. Attacking intellectuals and his supporters alike, he launched a series of purges to "uproot the weeds" of anti-party elements within the MPRP. He continued to purge those whose loyalty he distrusted as well as potential rivals for his leadership, removing or re-assigning younger party officials whom he saw as constituting a threat. In 1982 he removed Bazaryn Shirendev, Director of the Academy of Sciences, and two of his deputies, accusing them of negligence and inefficiency. In late 1983 he accused Sampiliin Jalan-Aajav, member of the politburo and vice chairman of the great khural - effectively his number 2 - of having been a part of the 1963 Lookhuuz group and had him exiled to a remote part of the country. By 1984, one third of central committee members and one half of ministry appointees from 1981 has been dismissed. Concerns over China's "predatory aspirations" led to the large-scale expulsion in 1980 of Chinese nationals.

Through the late 1970 and early 1980s,  By the early 1980s Tsedenbal was

Removal from power
he and his wife adhered closely to increasingly outdated soviet policies while failing to understand changes taking place in the USSR with the advent of glasnost and perestroika. ...removal from power. also continued his hostile criticisms of the People's Republic of China, unchanged since the days of the Sino-Soviet conflict, even as relations between Moscow and Beijing improved (p. 510; https://books.google.com/books?id=GXejBQAAQBAJ&pg=PA510&lpg=PA510&dq=tsedenbal+1980s&source=bl&ots=tcb8993hUS&sig=oUAqa3ERdjqtJYZCU3rxG4Irzj0&hl=en&sa=X&ei=fSa6VNPsJcr-yQTTz4H4Ag&ved=0CDYQ6AEwBA#v=onepage&q=tsedenbal%201980s&f=false) (khans to commisars, rossabi, pg 7)Post removal life and death (life in moscow, changes in Soviet leadership, Mongolian revolution, attempts to bring him to trial, death, burial, death of wife, son) Early 1980s signs that his mental capacity deminishing (why? Examples) Wife increasing influence (examples, sources)

In 1988, the Mongolian government officially blamed him for "the major shortcomings and ommissions of the last 40 years." In March 1990, he was expelled from the Communist Party and accused of gross misrule. A month later he and his wife were stripped of their state titles.

Death and legacy
Legacy - impact of Tsedenbal on Mongolia - image in present day Mongolia

Once again following the example of his Russian "elder brothers",

1970s established relations with Japan (1972) 1976 fifth Order of Sukhbaatar (discuss cult of personality) rising Mongolian - Chinese tensions. Chinese residents expelled (1979) again 1982 1981 7th five year plan 1982 Shirendev dismissed (purged?) 1983 Sampilyn Jalan Aajav dismissed (purged?) August 1984 dismissed

Several plots were hatched to remove him in 59-60, backed by Mao who looked to reassert Chinese influence in the area. Thrawted with help of NKVD.

Tsendabal had never shared Choibalsan’s pan-Mongolian aspirations nor his nationalist sentiment. Rather, he was deeply attached to the idea of Soviet-style socialism and to Russian culture in general and on several occasions he reportedly petitioned Moscow to allow Mongolia to join the Soviet Union. (http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/1741088/Yumjaagiin-Tsedenbal) From early on he attempted to mold Mongolia in the image of Soviet Russia, actively suppressing Mongolian traditions in favor of Russian ones and advocating policies that downplayed Mongolian nationalism. Through the 1950s and 1960s, Tsedenbal continued to condemn and block new Mongolian intellectual and cultural endeavors, instead endorsing its substitution with Russian and Soviet culture.(Becker 99) He gave his speeches in Russian (becker 101) and attempted to have all higher education to be taught in Russian. Influenced by his Russian wife, Anastasia Ivanovna Filatova, he encouraged Mongolians to eat Russian food, wear Russian clothes, speak and read the Russian language, and watch Russian ballet. (dateline pg 34)

In 1947 Tsedenbal married Anastasia Ivanovna Filatova in Moscow. She was a peasant woman from Soviet Central Asia who had left school at age 16. Their meeting was organized by the NKVD at a Moscow reception. Early in their marriage Filatova occupied herself with building orphanages and children’s parks (Becker page??). They had two sons together; Vladislav (1949-1999) and Zorig, born 1957. Both maintained Soviet citizenship and their mother kept them away from Mongolian children while growing up so that they would not “catch infectious diseases” (source). Filatova later became a source of consternation for Tsedenbal when party members accused her of becoming inappropriately involved in politics and exercising too much influence over Tsedenbal’s picks for important political appointments.



Mongolia  (source)  On July 6, 1960, the government adopted the country’s third national Constitution which would remain in force until 1992. It designated the MPRP as "the guiding and directing force of society and the state” and that called for the “building of socialism and in the future the building of a communist society”. (sanders 2010 pg 172).



At Josef Stalin’s funeral in March, 1953 Tsedenbal went so far as to present a request to Soviet leadership asking that Mongolia be permitted to join Soviet Union, but he is rebuked.



Tsedenbal’s admiration for the Soviet Union meant Mongolian-Soviet ties remained close during the 1960s. Moscow granted additional aid to Mongolia, and repayment deadlines were extended.

In 1939, having returned to Ulaanbaatar, Tsedenbal worked first as a deputy minister, and then as a minister of finance. In 1940, at the 10th Congress of the Mongolian People's Revolutionary Party, he became the party's General Secretary at age 23.

Category:1916 births Category:1991 deaths Category:Communist rulers Category:Mongolian communists Category:Mongolian expatriates in the Soviet Union Category:Mongolian People's Revolutionary Party politicians Category:Oirats Category:Recipients of the Order of Polonia Restituta (1944–1989) Category:Recipients of the Order of the White Lion Category:Speakers of the State Great Khural Category:World War II political leaders Category:Communism in Mongolia