Balingiin Tserendorj
Encyclopedia
Balingiin Tserendorj was a Mongolia
n political figure and the first Prime Minister
of the People's Republic of Mongolia from 1924 to 1928.
of the personal retainers of the Jebtsundamba Khutughtu) in present-day Selenge Aimag
. He spoke Manchu
, Chinese
and Russian
and worked as a scribe and translator in the local Manchu litigation office from 1885 to 1911. In 1911, as the Qing Dynasty
collapsed to the south, Mongolian regional leaders reasserted their country's independence and established the Bogd Khaanate, also known as Autonomous Mongolia, under the civil and religious leadership of the Bogd Khan
. Tserendorj went to work at the Foreign Ministry for Autonomous Mongolia and in 1913 he was appointed deputy foreign minister. Shortly thereafter he became minister of foreign affairs.
as part of the Mongolian delegation to the 8-month long Kyakhta treaty conference between Czarist Russia and the Republic of China that sought to clarify, among other things, the Russian-Chinese border in East Asia and Mongolian’s geopolitical status. Ultimately, Mongolian hopes for international recognition of its independence were dashed when Russia and China agreed that Mongolia was an autonomous region within China.
reasserted Peking's control over Mongolia by occupying
Niislel Khüree(present day Ulan Bator). Xu installed a dictatorial regime, imprisoned leaders of Mongolia's independence movement such as Khatanbaatar Magsarjav
and Manlaibaatar Damdinsüren and put the Bogd Khan under house arrest. In the face of Chinese threats to exile the Bogd Khan, Foreign Minister Tserendorj, Prime Minister Badamdorj and the Bogd Khan
were all forced to sign a document that “voluntarily” abdicated Mongolia's autonomy to Chinese rule. Although Badamdorj's career and reputation suffered irreparable damage as a result of his caving to Chinese pressure, Tserendorj received little blame despite later reports from the first American Consul in Kalgan, Samuel Sokobin, that Tserendorj had opted for reconciliation with the Chinese if negotiations could not produce independence.
entered Mongolia with the intent of freeing the Bogd Khan from Chinese domination and establishing a new Mongolian Empire. Ungern von Sternberg, known as "The Mad Baron", was a glory-seeking, renegade anti-Bolshevik military leader who stumbled into Mongolia after having been routed during the Russian Civil War
. In February 1921 he drove the Chinese out of Niislel Khüree. Tserendorj worked in Ungern von Sternberg's short-lived puppet Mongolian ministry. In July 1921, Mongolian partisans commanded by Damdin Sükhbaatar recaptured Niislel Khüree and expelled Ungern von Sternberg's forces. On July 11, a new revolutionary government was proclaimed, with Sükhbaatar named Minister of the Army, and Tserendorj becoming deputy minister of foreign affairs.
. However, in the resulting "Friendship" agreement, signed on November 5, 1921, Moscow recognized the Mongolian People's government as “the sole legitimate government”, but, not wanting to unnecessarily antagonize the Chinese, once again failed to expressly recognize Mongolia’s independence from Chinese rule.
Despite the disappointing outcome, Tserendorj was by this time slowly gaining an international reputation as one of Mongolian’s most pragmatic, durable, and widely respected government functionaries. A Russian participant to the Soviet-Mongolian friendship talks noted “he is an old Mongolian official…a prose writer, a poet and knows Mongolian and Chinese. Without him no legal or foreign affairs document is drafted. The Bogd Khan has no liking for this educated man of lay origin and he even tried to poison him.” Later, Samuel Sokobin, the U.S. Consul to Kalgan who traveled to Mongolia in 1924, reported that Tserendorj was "highly intelligent, head and shoulders above his colleagues in common sense and a man who exercised a restraining influence on other members of the government".
(MPRP) Central Committee.
In October 1924 Tserendorj headed the draft constitution commission established by the government after a previous commission had “made wrong turns” by incorporating European and international law concepts. Pressured by the Soviets, his commission produced a ready-made, pre-approved constitution within a day of first meeting. This became the official consititution of the Mongolian People's Republic, officially declared after the death of the Bogd Khan in 1924.
During the first session of the Mongolian Great Hural (parliament) in 1924 Tserendorj was once again named prime minister and he was subsequently re-elected in 1926 and 1927. Khorloogiin Choibalsan was named commander in chief of the army. At the 1924 session Tserendorj took notice of an obscure delegate from Övörkhangai, Peljidiin Genden, and suggested he be appointed head of the Small Hural, the small assembly that controlled day-to-day matters of state, with the concurrence of the more powerful Communist party. Genden was later to be prime minister during a critical period in Mongolian history.
Resisting efforts to turn him into a Soviet puppet, Tserendorj continued to pursue policies that promoted the interests of the Mongolian nation which included international recognition of the country’s independence, not only from Russia but from other nations as well. He also hoped to see Mongolia become a neutral state, something akin to an Asian Switzerland
. Outreach efforts to Europe
, Japan
, and the U.S. were eventually stifled by Moscow as well as Comintern
agents within the Mongolian government. Later Tserendorj and his allies came under heavy criticism from pro-Soviet members of the MPRP, who felt such efforts were counter-revolutionary and a betrayal of the special relationship that had developed between Mongolia and its chief benefactor.
Tserendorj rebuffed such criticism while doing his best to resist what he saw as heavyhanded Soviet pressure to rapidly abolish private property in Mongolia, implement cooperatives and state industries and abandon any further compromise with the church. Tserendorj believed these policies, neatly spelled out in a Comintern directive issued on January 24, 1927, conflicted with the country’s nomadic
culture and Buddhist
traditions. The directive further recommended replacing older government officials with younger more suitable, i.e. more hard-line, members of the MPRP. The Comintern hoped to solidify its control of Mongolia's political apparatus by leveraging younger revolutionaries, particularly the Youth Union, or Revsomol, to exert its influence within the country while playing various party and government factions against each other. Politicians who diverged from the Comintern party line, such as was the case with Tseren-Ochiryn Dambadorj, were removed from their posts.
was appointed as the Prime Minister of Mongolia.
Mongolia
Mongolia is a landlocked country in East and Central Asia. It is bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south, east and west. Although Mongolia does not share a border with Kazakhstan, its western-most point is only from Kazakhstan's eastern tip. Ulan Bator, the capital and largest...
n political figure and the first Prime Minister
Prime Minister of Mongolia
The Prime Minister of Mongolia is the highest member of the Mongolian government's executive arm, and heads the Mongolian cabinet. The Prime Minister is appointed by Parliament, and can be removed by a vote of no confidence.-Powers:...
of the People's Republic of Mongolia from 1924 to 1928.
Early life and career
Tserendorj was born in 1868 as a subject to the Great Shabi (the estateEstates of the realm
The Estates of the realm were the broad social orders of the hierarchically conceived society, recognized in the Middle Ages and Early Modern period in Christian Europe; they are sometimes distinguished as the three estates: the clergy, the nobility, and commoners, and are often referred to by...
of the personal retainers of the Jebtsundamba Khutughtu) in present-day Selenge Aimag
Selenge Province
Selenge is one of the 21 aimags of Mongolia, located in the north of the country. The name is derived from the Selenge river. The capital is Sükhbaatar.- Administrative subdivisions :* - The aimag capital- References :...
. He spoke Manchu
Manchu language
Manchu is a Tungusic endangered language spoken in Northeast China; it used to be the language of the Manchu, though now most Manchus speak Mandarin Chinese and there are fewer than 70 native speakers of Manchu out of a total of nearly 10 million ethnic Manchus...
, Chinese
Chinese language
The Chinese language is a language or language family consisting of varieties which are mutually intelligible to varying degrees. Originally the indigenous languages spoken by the Han Chinese in China, it forms one of the branches of Sino-Tibetan family of languages...
and Russian
Russian language
Russian is a Slavic language used primarily in Russia, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. It is an unofficial but widely spoken language in Ukraine, Moldova, Latvia, Turkmenistan and Estonia and, to a lesser extent, the other countries that were once constituent republics...
and worked as a scribe and translator in the local Manchu litigation office from 1885 to 1911. In 1911, as the Qing Dynasty
Qing Dynasty
The Qing Dynasty was the last dynasty of China, ruling from 1644 to 1912 with a brief, abortive restoration in 1917. It was preceded by the Ming Dynasty and followed by the Republic of China....
collapsed to the south, Mongolian regional leaders reasserted their country's independence and established the Bogd Khaanate, also known as Autonomous Mongolia, under the civil and religious leadership of the Bogd Khan
Bogd Khan
The Bogd Khan was enthroned as the Great Khaan of Mongolia on 29 December 1911, when Outer Mongolia declared independence from the Qing Dynasty after the Xinhai Revolution. He was born in the Kham region of eastern Tibet, today's Sichuan province of the People's Republic of China...
. Tserendorj went to work at the Foreign Ministry for Autonomous Mongolia and in 1913 he was appointed deputy foreign minister. Shortly thereafter he became minister of foreign affairs.
Kyakhta Treaty
From 1914 to 1915 he accompanied Prime Minister Shirindambyn NamnansürenShirindambyn Namnansüren
Tögs-Ochiryn Namnansüren , with full title Sain Noyon Khan Namnansüren |khan]] Namnansuren), was a powerful hereditary prince who also served as prime minister of Autonomous Mongolia from 1912 to 1915 in the government of the Bogd Khan...
as part of the Mongolian delegation to the 8-month long Kyakhta treaty conference between Czarist Russia and the Republic of China that sought to clarify, among other things, the Russian-Chinese border in East Asia and Mongolian’s geopolitical status. Ultimately, Mongolian hopes for international recognition of its independence were dashed when Russia and China agreed that Mongolia was an autonomous region within China.
Chinese Occupation
In late 1919 troops under the Chinese warlord Xu ShuzhengXu Shuzheng
Hsu Seu-Cheng or Xu Shuzheng , was a Chinese warlord in Republican China. A subordinate and right-hand man of Duan Qirui, he was a prominent member of the Anhui Clique....
reasserted Peking's control over Mongolia by occupying
Occupation of Mongolia
The Occupation of Mongolia by the Beiyang Government of the Republic of China began in October 1919 and lasted until early 1921, when Chinese troops in Urga were routed by Baron Ungern's White Russian and Mongolian forces, who, in turn, were defeated by the Red Army and its Mongolian allies by...
Niislel Khüree(present day Ulan Bator). Xu installed a dictatorial regime, imprisoned leaders of Mongolia's independence movement such as Khatanbaatar Magsarjav
Khatanbaatar Magsarjav
Khatanbaatar Magsarjav was a Mongolian general and a leading figure in Mongolia's struggle for independence. His contingent of elite 800 Mongol soldiers fought White Russians and Chinese forces over 30 times between 1912 and 1921 without a single defeat. He is often noted by historians as one of...
and Manlaibaatar Damdinsüren and put the Bogd Khan under house arrest. In the face of Chinese threats to exile the Bogd Khan, Foreign Minister Tserendorj, Prime Minister Badamdorj and the Bogd Khan
Bogd Khan
The Bogd Khan was enthroned as the Great Khaan of Mongolia on 29 December 1911, when Outer Mongolia declared independence from the Qing Dynasty after the Xinhai Revolution. He was born in the Kham region of eastern Tibet, today's Sichuan province of the People's Republic of China...
were all forced to sign a document that “voluntarily” abdicated Mongolia's autonomy to Chinese rule. Although Badamdorj's career and reputation suffered irreparable damage as a result of his caving to Chinese pressure, Tserendorj received little blame despite later reports from the first American Consul in Kalgan, Samuel Sokobin, that Tserendorj had opted for reconciliation with the Chinese if negotiations could not produce independence.
The Mad Baron
In late 1920 to early 1921 forces commanded by Roman Ungern von SternbergRoman Ungern von Sternberg
Baron Roman Nikolai Maximilian von Ungern-Sternberg was a Russian Yesaul , Lieutenant-general, and a hero of World War I...
entered Mongolia with the intent of freeing the Bogd Khan from Chinese domination and establishing a new Mongolian Empire. Ungern von Sternberg, known as "The Mad Baron", was a glory-seeking, renegade anti-Bolshevik military leader who stumbled into Mongolia after having been routed during the Russian Civil War
Russian Civil War
The Russian Civil War was a multi-party war that occurred within the former Russian Empire after the Russian provisional government collapsed to the Soviets, under the domination of the Bolshevik party. Soviet forces first assumed power in Petrograd The Russian Civil War (1917–1923) was a...
. In February 1921 he drove the Chinese out of Niislel Khüree. Tserendorj worked in Ungern von Sternberg's short-lived puppet Mongolian ministry. In July 1921, Mongolian partisans commanded by Damdin Sükhbaatar recaptured Niislel Khüree and expelled Ungern von Sternberg's forces. On July 11, a new revolutionary government was proclaimed, with Sükhbaatar named Minister of the Army, and Tserendorj becoming deputy minister of foreign affairs.
Soviet-Mongolia Friendship Talks
In the new government Tserendorj once again endeavored to secure ever-elusive international recognition of Mongolia’s independence. Following signals that the Soviets planned to nullify obnoxious international treaties concluded under the Czarist government, a group of high ranking Mongolians that included Sükhbaatar and Tserendorj travelled to the Soviet Union to initiate Soviet-Mongolia friendship talks that might ultimately throw out the 1915 Kyakhta treaty for one that more firmly confirmed Mongolia's status as a fully independent nation. There they both allegedly met with Vladimir LeninVladimir Lenin
Vladimir Ilyich Lenin was a Russian Marxist revolutionary and communist politician who led the October Revolution of 1917. As leader of the Bolsheviks, he headed the Soviet state during its initial years , as it fought to establish control of Russia in the Russian Civil War and worked to create a...
. However, in the resulting "Friendship" agreement, signed on November 5, 1921, Moscow recognized the Mongolian People's government as “the sole legitimate government”, but, not wanting to unnecessarily antagonize the Chinese, once again failed to expressly recognize Mongolia’s independence from Chinese rule.
Despite the disappointing outcome, Tserendorj was by this time slowly gaining an international reputation as one of Mongolian’s most pragmatic, durable, and widely respected government functionaries. A Russian participant to the Soviet-Mongolian friendship talks noted “he is an old Mongolian official…a prose writer, a poet and knows Mongolian and Chinese. Without him no legal or foreign affairs document is drafted. The Bogd Khan has no liking for this educated man of lay origin and he even tried to poison him.” Later, Samuel Sokobin, the U.S. Consul to Kalgan who traveled to Mongolia in 1924, reported that Tserendorj was "highly intelligent, head and shoulders above his colleagues in common sense and a man who exercised a restraining influence on other members of the government".
Prime minister
From 1922 to 1923 Tserendorj served as Mongolia's minister of foreign affairs. On September 18, 1923 he was appointed prime minister upon the death of Sodnomyn Damdinbazar and was elected to the Presidium of the Mongolian People's Revolutionary PartyMongolian People's Revolutionary Party
The Mongolian People's Party formerly the Mongolian People's Revolutionary Party is an ex-communist political party in Mongolia. The party is abbreviated MPP in English and ' in Mongolian...
(MPRP) Central Committee.
In October 1924 Tserendorj headed the draft constitution commission established by the government after a previous commission had “made wrong turns” by incorporating European and international law concepts. Pressured by the Soviets, his commission produced a ready-made, pre-approved constitution within a day of first meeting. This became the official consititution of the Mongolian People's Republic, officially declared after the death of the Bogd Khan in 1924.
During the first session of the Mongolian Great Hural (parliament) in 1924 Tserendorj was once again named prime minister and he was subsequently re-elected in 1926 and 1927. Khorloogiin Choibalsan was named commander in chief of the army. At the 1924 session Tserendorj took notice of an obscure delegate from Övörkhangai, Peljidiin Genden, and suggested he be appointed head of the Small Hural, the small assembly that controlled day-to-day matters of state, with the concurrence of the more powerful Communist party. Genden was later to be prime minister during a critical period in Mongolian history.
Soviet Control Increases
After Mongolia’s 1921 Revolution and the subsequent friendship agreement with the Soviet Union, soviet troops were stationed in Mongolia and had significant impact on the political administration as well as the government's ideological development. 1926-1928 in particular saw a tightening of control from Moscow. Moscow pressured Tserendorj to include a number of Russians in high ranking positions within his government including Minister of Finance, chairman of the Economic Council, head of Mongolian construction and the domestic trading organization, chairman of the Military Council, and minister of war. A Russian also headed the secret police along with six Russian advisors.Resisting efforts to turn him into a Soviet puppet, Tserendorj continued to pursue policies that promoted the interests of the Mongolian nation which included international recognition of the country’s independence, not only from Russia but from other nations as well. He also hoped to see Mongolia become a neutral state, something akin to an Asian Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
. Outreach efforts to Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
, Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
, and the U.S. were eventually stifled by Moscow as well as Comintern
Comintern
The Communist International, abbreviated as Comintern, also known as the Third International, was an international communist organization initiated in Moscow during March 1919...
agents within the Mongolian government. Later Tserendorj and his allies came under heavy criticism from pro-Soviet members of the MPRP, who felt such efforts were counter-revolutionary and a betrayal of the special relationship that had developed between Mongolia and its chief benefactor.
Tserendorj rebuffed such criticism while doing his best to resist what he saw as heavyhanded Soviet pressure to rapidly abolish private property in Mongolia, implement cooperatives and state industries and abandon any further compromise with the church. Tserendorj believed these policies, neatly spelled out in a Comintern directive issued on January 24, 1927, conflicted with the country’s nomadic
Eurasian nomads
Eurasian nomads are a large group of peoples of the Eurasian Steppe. This generic title encompasses the ethnic groups inhabiting the steppes of Central Asia, Mongolia, and Eastern Europe. They domesticated the horse, and their economy and culture emphasizes horse breeding, horse riding, and a...
culture and Buddhist
Tibetan Buddhism
Tibetan Buddhism is the body of Buddhist religious doctrine and institutions characteristic of Tibet and certain regions of the Himalayas, including northern Nepal, Bhutan, and India . It is the state religion of Bhutan...
traditions. The directive further recommended replacing older government officials with younger more suitable, i.e. more hard-line, members of the MPRP. The Comintern hoped to solidify its control of Mongolia's political apparatus by leveraging younger revolutionaries, particularly the Youth Union, or Revsomol, to exert its influence within the country while playing various party and government factions against each other. Politicians who diverged from the Comintern party line, such as was the case with Tseren-Ochiryn Dambadorj, were removed from their posts.
Death
Uncomfortable with Comintern’s growing influence and activities, Tserendorj attempted to resign his position in 1927 saying he was “old and sick”. Nevertheless, both the Central Committee of the MPRP as well as the Soviets felt the respected Prime Minister was a useful tool and forced him to remain in his post. Tserendorj’s health continued to decline and he died on February 13, 1928. Anandyn AmarAnandyn Amar
Anandyn Amar , was the head of state of the Mongolian People’s Republic from 1932 to 1936 as well as prime minister from 1928–1930 and again from 1936-1939.-Early life and career:...
was appointed as the Prime Minister of Mongolia.