The ideological roots of Mongolia’s democratic revolution: Nergui’s theory of “latent colonialism” and its interpretations

Abstract

ABSTRACTRegarding the origin, purpose, and political connotation of the Mongolian democratic revolution, academic circles have rarely mentioned the “theory-ideology-policy” of the Mongolian economist and revolutionary theorist, Pagam Nergui. Nonetheless, his research and participation had a significant impact on the Mongolian democratic revolution, which lasted from 1989 to 1990. According to Nergui, the Mongolian democratic revolution was nipped in the bud without achieving its goal three decades ago. The most significant difference between the perspectives of Nergui and most other scholars is that he believed Mongolia’s democratic revolution was affected not only by the democratization of the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe but also by the hardships endured by the Mongolian people due to the control and the oppression of “latent colonialism” by the Soviet Union, along with the burden of huge debts accumulated over seven decades. Nergui concluded that the Mongolian people must promote an outright change of the country’s social structure to achieve its revolutionary goals.KEYWORDS: MongoliaNerguithe former Soviet Unionlatent colonialismsystemic crisisnationalismdemocratic revolution AcknowledgementsUtmost appreciation goes to Professor Wang, Fu-Chang (Institute of Sociology, Academia Sinica) and Professor Poe Yu-Ze Wan (Department of Sociology, National Sun Yat-sen University) for offering invaluable suggestions during the process of revising this research paper and commenting on the final manuscript.Notes1 The Sino-Soviet Agreement was an agreement signed by the Soviet Union and China on 31 May 1924. China recognized the Soviet government, and the Soviet Union promised to withdraw its troops from Outer Mongolia completely and recognized Outer Mongolia as part of Chinese territory.2 A latent colonialist state is a state that appears to be independent of the colonized state, but is in fact subject to external states in all respects.3 The Soviet chauvinism refers to dominant power chauvinism. In international relations, larger countries do not respect the independence and equal status of smaller ones, and even impose their will on others, so as to damage their sovereignty and interests in each other.4 “Systemic crisis,” also known as the three major crises, includes the economic crisis of 1981, the political crisis of 1984, and the ideological crisis of 1987.5 Enkhsaihan Mendsaikhan was the Prime Minister of Mongolia from 1996 to 2000, representing the Mongolian Democratic Union.6 “Material-technical basis” is the material-technical conditions on which production relations depend. The material and technological base refers to the production of large machines with high labor productivity based on modern advanced technology that is widely used in industry, agriculture, and other sectors of the national economy (Wilczynsk Citation1981, 345).7 “Fixed capital” refers to the capital used to purchase durable labor materials such as machinery, equipment, tools, and workshops, and is a part of constant capital. Dictionary of Marxist Principles (Wilczynsk Citation1981, 191).8 “Developed colonialism” (хөгжингүй колониализм) refers to the further advancement of latent colonialism.9 Including Nergui, the Director of the Comprehensive Planning Department of the National Economic Planning Committee, Maidar, Member of the Political Bureau and Deputy Minister of the Council of Ministers, and Tsendenbal, President and General Secretary of the State.10 Y. Tsedenbal (Юмжаагийн Цэдэнбал, 1916–1991) was elected General Secretary of the Central Committee of the MPRP in 1940, took over as Chairman of the Council of Ministers in 1952 and continued to serve as General Secretary. After that, he was elected Chairman of the People’s Great Hural Presidium in 1974. He ruled the MPR for 44 years from 1940 to 1984, a period of great leadership (Sanders Citation2010, 704).11 Leonid Brezhnev (Леонид Брежнев, 1906–1982), Soviet leader and marshal. He was General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union and held power for 18 years (1964–1982).12 Erdenet (Эрдэнэт) later became the second largest city in Mongolia.13 J. Batmunkh (Ж.Батмөнх, 1926–1997) was the general secretary of the Central Committee of the MPRP and the chairman of the People’s Great Hural Presidium of the MPR. On 14 May 1990, Batmunkh resigned from his party leadership position, and then on 21 May, resigned from his state leadership position. He died on 14 May 1997. (Sanders Citation2010, 97–98).14 D. Molomjamts (Д. Моломжамц, 1920–2006), Deputy Minister of Finance of Mongolia from 1946 to 1948, Minister of Finance from 1948 to 1957, Vice-Chairman of the Council of Ministers and State Central Planning Committee Chairman from 1958 to 1964, and Second Secretary General of the MPRP (1964–1990).15 B. Dejid (Б.Дэжид) was then the chairman of the Party Control Committee and a member of the Political Bureau of the MPRP.16 D. Tumur-Ochir (Д.Төмөр-Очир, 1921–1985), is a politician of the MPR, also member of the Politburo and Second Secretary of the Central Committee of the MPRP from 1962.Additional informationFundingThis article was subsidized for English editing by National Taiwan University under the Excellence Improvement Program for Doctoral Students [grant number 108-2926-I-002-002-MY4], sponsored by the Ministry of Science and Technology, Taiwan.Notes on contributorsZul ZugeerbaiZul Zugeerbai currently is a Ph.D candidate at the Graduate Institute of National Development at the National Taiwan University. His research interests include political economy, politics, neoliberal reform and the democratic revolution of Mongolia. Zul’s first publication “Reinterpretation of the Metamorphic Yuli Belt: Evidence for a Middle-late Miocene Accretionary Prism in Eastern Taiwan” was published in 2017 in Tectonic Journal as a corresponding-author. His second publication “An Inefficacious Shock Therapy?: A Critical Analysis of Mongolian Neoliberal Reforms” was published in 2022 in the Mongolian Journal of International Affairs. His current work focuses on writing a Ph.D dissertation.