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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