The Mongolian People's Republic (MPR) was the Mongolian communist state that existed from 1924 to 1992 that self-designated first as a people's democratic state and later as a socialist state. The Mongolian People's Revolutionary Party was enshrined as the leading force of state and society; it occupied the historical region of Outer Mongolia. Geographically positioned between the Soviet Union and China, the MPR became the world's second communist state. It was the
first Soviet satellite state, and remained so for its entire existence, longer than any other Soviet satellite. It is the predecessor of the modern state of Mongolia.
The state was established in 1924 following the Mongolian Revolution of 1921, which was supported by the Soviet Red Army. Under the rule of Khorloogiin Choibalsan, the government aligned closely with Soviet policies, undertaking Stalinist repressions from 1937 to 1939 that resulted in the deaths of over 20,000 people. The MPR's army fought alongside the Soviets in the 1939 Battles of Khalkhin Gol against Japan, and its independence was formally recognized by China after a 1945 referendum.
After Choibalsan's death, Yumjaagiin Tsedenbal came to power and maintained a close alliance with the Soviet Union, particularly during the Sino-Soviet split of the 1960s. His rule was marked by Soviet-guided industrialization and the complete collectivization of agriculture, mirroring the Soviet Model. This would transform the nomadic society into a developing agricultural-industrial economy. Inspired by the reforms of Mikhail Gorbachev in the Soviet Union, the 1990 Mongolian Revolution led to the resignation of the MPRP leadership, the legalization of opposition parties, and the establishment of a multi-party system. A new constitution was adopted in 1992, formally abolishing the communist state and establishing the present-day parliamentary republic (The State Of Mongolia).
History
From 1691, the Mongols were ruled by the Manchu-led Qing dynasty of China, during which northern and southern Mongolia became known as Outer Mongolia and Inner Mongolia, respectively. The Qing dynasty promoted Tibetan Buddhism and built monasteries, which grew rich and powerful. Its administrators also impoverished and oppressed the Mongols, and pursued colonization of Inner Mongolia in the 19th century. In the early 20th century, the implementation of the New Policies, aimed at further Qing integration of Outer Mongolia, led to anti-Manchu mutinies and uprisings. In late 1911, the Qing dynasty collapsed in the Xinhai Revolution, and Outer Mongolia declared its independence under the leadership of the 8th Jebtsundamba Khutuktu, who was named the Bogd Khan. The new state called on the Mongols of Inner Mongolia to join it, and sought international recognition. In 1912, it signed a treaty with the Russian Empire. Under the Treaty of Kyakhta of 1915, Mongolia accepted autonomy under the suzerainty of the Republic of China (ROC).
Revolution and early years
After the 1917 October Revolution and outbreak of the Russian Civil War, Mongolia was recognized by the Bolshevik government in August 1919. That November, ROC troops entered the capital and overthrew the Bogd Khan. During the Chinese occupation, Mongolian revolutionaries made contact with the Bolsheviks in Siberia, and in 1920 founded the Mongolian People's Party (MPP), led by Damdin Sükhbaatar, Khorloogiin Choibalsan, Dogsomyn Bodoo, Soliin Danzan, and others, across the border at Kyakhta. In October, White Russian cavalry under Baron Roman von Ungern-Sternberg entered Mongolia, and in February 1921 drove out the Chinese and restored the Bogd Khan. The MPP made a provisional government at its first congress on 1 March, and that July cavalry under Sükhbaatar, supported by Soviet troops, captured the capital in the Mongolian People's Revolution. Bodoo was appointed prime minister, while the Bogd Khan was allowed to remain on the throne. In November, a Mongolian delegation traveled to Soviet Russia and signed a treaty. Prime Ministers Peljidiin Genden and Anandyn Amar, for example, were accused of counter-revolution and shot in Moscow in 1937 and 1941, respectively. Buddhist institutions were nearly all destroyed, their property appropriated, and the lamas killed or secularized. In March 1939, Choibalsan, Stalin's close ally, became prime minister of Mongolia and led a Stalinist dictatorship, and initiated further episodes of repression during his tenure. Mao Zedong privately hoped for Outer Mongolia's reintegration with China, and he was rebuffed by Soviet leadership after raising the question in 1949 and again in 1954, the year after Stalin's death. In 1956, after Nikita Khrushchev's denunciation of Stalin, Chinese leaders attempted to present Mongolia's independence as one of Stalin's mistakes. The Soviet response was that the Mongols were free to decide their own fate. Choibalsan died of cancer in Moscow in 1952, and was replaced as prime minister by Tsedenbal. Unlike his predecessor, Tsedenbal was enthusiastic about incorporating Mongolia as a constituent republic of the Soviet Union. This proposal was met with strenuous opposition from other MPRP members, and was subsequently abandoned. In 1988, the MPRP newspaper Ünen urged accelerated reforms to overcome the party's "dogmatic interpretation of socialism", declared that "authoritarianism and intellectual indolence" undermined national "renewal", and described Tsedenbal as "willful and unprincipled". In that same year, Mongolia participated in the Seoul Olympic Games, making its final appearance as a communist nation. In 1989, Mongolian newspapers called for an "objective and realistic evaluation" of Mongolian–Soviet relations.
Industry accounted for 7 percent of Mongolia's net material product (NMP) in 1950 and increased to 35 percent in 1985. Trade increased from 10 percent to 26 percent; agriculture, including herding, declined from 68 percent to 20 percent. In 1960, 61 percent of the employed worked in the agricultural sector, decreasing to 33 percent by 1985. GDP figures for Mongolia record growth throughout the 1980s; as late as 1988, the annual increase in GDP amounted to 5.1 percent. In the late 1980s, the stagnation of the economy and the example of perestroika in the Soviet Union led Mongolian leaders to undertake a program of reform, which developed the economy in a market direction, which ultimately led to the end of the communist state and the turn to capitalism.
Media and arts
thumb|Equestrian monument to [[Damdin Sükhbaatar in Ulaanbaatar's Sükhbaatar Square in 1972]]
Under the one-party rule of the Mongolian People's Revolutionary Party, media in Mongolia was strictly controlled. The main source of information was the state-owned Montsame news agency. The official MPRP newspaper Ünen ('Truth'), founded in 1920 and still published today, served as a mouthpiece of the People's Great Khural, Council of Ministers, and MPRP Central Committee. The party also published the monthly journal Namyn Amidral ('Party Life'), which discussed theoretical matters. Other official publications included the Mongolian Revolutionary Youth League newspaper Zaluuchuudyn Ünen ('Youth Truth') and the cultural paper Utga Zokhiol Urlag ('Literature and Art'), which dispensed ideological guidance. Mongolradio was established in 1933, and Mongolteleviz in 1967. The army was renamed the Mongolian People's Army in 1955. During the 1970s and 1980s, Mongolia received modern equipment, including tanks, armored personnel carriers, heavy and anti-aircraft artillery, radar, attack helicopters, and jet fighters. The Mongolian Air Force, founded in 1925, initially operated the civil airline MIAT, established in 1956.