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FEATURES

Aremarkable success
story called Mongolia

ULAN BATOR, Mongolia — One of
the least-known nations on the face of
this earth is also one of the most remark-
able. The People’s Republic of Mon-
golia, a green and rugged land wedged
between the giants, China and the
USSR, is the historic crucible from
Which waves of horsemen once fanned
Out to conquer the known world. It is
also a modern social experiment that has
brought its people from feudal back-
wardness to industrial socialism without
any intervening stage of capitalism.

Mongolia today is a rapidly developing
land of just under two million people
which remains deeply influenced by its
Pastoral and nomadic traditions. Beyond
the modern apartment blocks and broad |
boulevards of the capital stretched seem-
Ingly endless grassy valleys, teeming
With herds of grazing horses, sheep,
80ats, cows and yaks. This rugged green
terrain tapers gradually into the Gobi

sert, where the famous two-humped
Gobi camel is still the primary mode of
transport. ;

Large numbers of people, even in
towns, still live in the traditional Mongol
yurt — a collapsible moon-shaped wood
frame tent, covered with felt and camel
hair — though today these are likely to
have electricity and sprout TV antennas.

Fascinating History

The impact of this isolated land upon
World history can hardly be over-
estimated. The Huns, who, under their

* hotorious leader. Atilla terrorized the
decaying Roman empire, emerged from -

these rugged grasslands. Nearly a
thousand years later, Genghis Khan
Welded the scattered Mongol tribes into
an awesome fighting force that brifly held
Sway over the largest empire in human
history — from the Sea of Japan to the
Sates of Vienna and Warsaw.

In recent centuries, however, Mon-
g0lia seemed to be forgotten by time. The
land fell first under Chinese Manchu rule
and, later, the despotism of a native
theocratic monarchy. Lamaist Bhud-
dism dominated all aspects of life. Some

00 monasteries absorbed more than 40
Per cent of the male population, with dis-
astrous demographic and socio-
€conomic consequences.

The Russian revolution brought Mon-
8olia’s long sleep to a sudden end. The
€xample, very near at hand, prompted
formation of the Mongolian People’s
Revolutionary Party (MPRP), based on

Ninist precepts, which overthrew the
feudal theocracy in 1924 and established
What it called ‘ta revolutionary democra-
Ue dictatorship of working herdsmen.”

he dilemma of the new ruling party
and its young leader, D. Sukhbaatar,
Should be readily apparent from this.
Though the MPRP espoused socialism as
Its goal, Mongolia in 1924 had not a single
Acre of cultivated land, nor did it have
€ven the most rudimentary industry.

he solution they found was a theoret-

cal breakthrough whose significance re-
Verberates — increasingly — down to the
Present day.

... By-passing Capitalism
Mongolia must not trudge along the
toad, earlier passed through by other na-
a Ns of the world, the road of capitalist
avery, but must develop in the spirit of
penuine people’s power in keeping with
Ontemporary international develop-

development into decades and by-pass
capitalism altogether.
Such theoretical boldness was rooted

“in one crucial reality. The existence of

the Soviet Union, a powerful and rela-
tively advanced state also on the road to
socialism, was the element that made the
dream possible. Modern Mongolia can-
not be understood in isolation from its
long and unwavering alliance with the
USSR. :
Over the decades since then, with as-
sistance from the Soviet Union and later
other socialist countries, Mongolia
gradually built an industrial base and a

“native working class. Today some 35 per

cent of the population are urban indust-
rial workers.

Cultivation of crops was introduced
into Mongolia only in the early 1960s.
Around the same time the country com-
pleted the long and difficult process of
voluntarily uniting the formerly nomadic
livestock breeders into cooperative
farms. :

For the first time in history Mongolia
has its own cultural and _ intellectual
establishments. Concernts held in Ulan
Bator earlier this month to mark the na-
tional holiday featured modern dance,
ballet, opera, and orchestral per-
formances as well as traditional folk
music and dancing.

Ulan Bator university has a growing
population, now around 2,000 students.

yisa rapidly

FR Waa 3s :
developing land of just under two million people which

From
Ulan Bator

aE
Fred
Weir

Some of them are from third world coun-
tries who have come to study the rele-
vance the Mongolian experience might
hold for their own situations.

In general, Mongolians have come to
expect all of the social benefits that go
with an extremely advanced form of so-
cial organization: full employment, free
health care, free education, equal rights
for women and minorities, protection for
children, the elderly, the disadvantaged,
and so on. As their national wealth and
productivity have grown over the years,
so have these fundamental rights taken
on tangible meaning.

New World Role

In recent years, Mongolia has found
itself once again absorbed in the
mainstream of world affairs. Its role is far
greater than many might guess. It is not
well known, for instance, that one of the
most decisive battles of World War Two
was fought on Mongolian soil — even
before that war officially began. In May,
1939, the Japanese Kwantung army ad-
vancing out of Manchuria was met at the

Khalkhyn

golian forces — under the command of
an obscure Soviet general named Georgi
Zhukov — and was handed a crushing
defeat. The Japanese abruptly dropped
their planned drive into Siberia and turn-
ed their expansionist gaze in different
directions, with historical consequences
that are well known.

Following the Chinese revolution in

_1949, Mongolia enjoyed a spurt of

economic development as Chinese assis-
tance poured in, and a surge in its politi-
cal importance. As the vital way-station
between the two great socialist powers,
its fortunes have hinged ever since upon
relations between them. When things
turned bad in the 1960s, Mongolia, a
staunch ally of the Soviet Union, became
a major arena of the tension between the
USSR and China.

It was a recognition of Mongolia’s

strategic centrality, among other things,
that led communist parties of the Asia-
Pacific region to ask the MPRP to act as
co-ordinator of the embryonic consulta-
tive process between them, a process
crowned earlier this month by the first
such conference, held in Ulan Bator.
Success Story <

By any measure, Mongolia’s transi-
tion from pastoral feudalism to industrial
socialism in under seven decades is one
of the most remarkable success stories of
our century. By the standards of the
developed world Mongolia remains a
poor country, though compared with the
lot of the 10 million ethnic Mongolians
who inhabit Chinese *‘inner Mongolia”’ it
is rich indeed.

It is a land five times the size of
France, with a population of barely two
million and, says one official, ‘‘if rela-
tions between the Soviet Union and

River by Soviet and Mon-

Mongolia toda China continue to show healthy

improvement, Mongolia stands to be the
most fortunate of nations.”’

Mme » . .
Se eT ote remains deeply influenced by its pastoral and nomadic traditions. Beyond the modern

1924
amazingly ny eros eee apartment blocks stretch grassy valleys teeming with herds of grazing horses, sheep,
Centuries of social and economic goats, cows and yaks.

PACIFIC TRIBUNE, JULY 22, 1987 e 5