Yumjaagiin Tsedenbal

Yumjaagiin Tsedenbal Юмжаагийн Цэдэнбал
Chairman of the Presidium of the State Great Khural
In office 11 June 1974 – 23 August 1984
Preceded by	Sonomyn Luvsan (acting)
Succeeded by	Nyamyn Jagvaral (acting)
11th Prime Minister of Mongolia
In office 26 January 1952 – 11 June 1974
Preceded by	Khorloogiin Choibalsan
Succeeded by	Jambyn Batmönkh
General Secretary of the Mongolian People's Party
In office 22 November 1958 – 24 August 1984
Preceded by	Dashiin Damba
Succeeded by	Jambyn Batmönkh
In office 8 April 1940 – 4 April 1954
Preceded by	Dashiin Damba
Succeeded by	Dashiin Damba
Personal details
Born	(1916-09-17)17 September 1916 Davst sum, Uvs aimag, Outer Mongolia, Republic of China
Died	20 April 1991(1991-04-20) (aged 74) Moscow, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union
Political party	Mongolian People's Revolutionary Party
Spouse	Anastasia Filatova
Children	Vladislav Zorig
Awards
Military service
Rank	Marshal of the Mongolian People's Republic (1979-1991)

Yumjaagiin Tsedenbal (Mongolian: Юмжаагийн Цэдэнбал; September 17, 1916 – April 20, 1991) was the leader of Mongolia from 1940 to 1984. During his political life, he served as chairman of the Presidium of the State Great Khural (head of state), Prime Minister of Mongolia and general secretary of the Mongolian People's Party.

Early life

Tsedenbal was born to a poor ethnic Dörvöd nomadic family in Zorigt Khan hoshuu of the Unen Zorigt Khan aimag (present day Davst sum in Uvs aimag). He was the fifth of eleven children in his family (three of his siblings died in infancy).

In 1925 Tsedenbal became among the first students in the newly organized public school in Ulaangom, graduating in 1929. The same year Tsedenbal went to Irkutsk to continue his education. He spent about nine years between Irkutsk and Ulan-Ude. He obtained a degree from the Siberian Finance and Economics Institute.

Career

Tsedenbal (far right) at Soviet Leader Joseph Stalin's 70th birthday ceremony with Chinese Communist Leader Mao Zedong.

In 1939, having returned to Ulaanbaatar, Tsedenbal worked first as a deputy minister and then as a minister of finance. In 1940, at the 10th Congress of the Mongolian People's Revolutionary Party, he became the party's General Secretary at age 23 and again in 1958 during his premiership.

After taking over minor leadership in 1952 following Marshal Khorloogiin Choibalsan's death, Tsedenbal successfully purged his political rivals: Dashiin Damba in 1958–59, Daramyn Tömör-Ochir in 1962, Luvsantserengiin Tsend in 1963, and the so-called Lookhuuz-Nyambuu-Surmaajav "anti-party group" in December 1964. He held this office until 11 June 1974, when he eventually became head of state, thus making him the supreme ruler of the Mongolian People's Republic.

His foreign policy was marked by efforts to bring Mongolia into ever-closer cooperation with the USSR. Still, Tsedenbal and his group of party leaders (such as Tsagaan-Lamyn Dugersuren and Damdinjavyn Maidar) were dissatisfied with the economic role that the Soviet leadership assigned to Mongolia. While the USSR prodded the Mongolian government to concentrate its efforts on the development of agriculture and the mineral sector, Tsedenbal and his followers sought to foster rapid industrialization even in the face of Soviet opposition. At the same time, Tsedenbal was cautious enough to frequently express his loyalty to the Kremlin and portray his intra-party critics—including Daramyn Tömör-Ochir, Tsogt-Ochiryn Loohuuz, and others—as "pro-Chinese factionalists" and "nationalists."

Tsedenbal in 1971 (left).

With the full backing of the Soviets, Tsedenbal successfully purged his political opponents. During his reign as head of the state, Tsedenbal submitted requests for the incorporation of Mongolia into the USSR on five to eight occasions, but these proposals were invariably rejected by the Soviet leaders. At the time of the Sino-Soviet split, Tsedenbal decisively sided with the Soviet Union and incurred China's wrath. In Mongolia, Tsedenbal is remembered for successfully maintaining a path of relatively moderate socialism during the Cold War.

Tsedenbal was forced into retirement in August 1984 in a Soviet-sponsored move, officially on the account of his old age and mental weakness but at least partly because of his opposition to the process of Sino-Soviet rapprochement that had started with Leonid Brezhnev's Tashkent speech in March 1982. Jambyn Batmönkh became the general secretary of the MPRP. Tsedenbal remained in Moscow until his death; his body was brought to Mongolia, where it was buried.

His Russian wife, Anastasia Filatova (Анастасия Филатова), was often said to be the most powerful political figure in Mongolia due to her close relationship with the Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev.

Awards

Mongolia

• Hero of Labor of the Mongolian People's Republic (1961)
• Hero of the Mongolian People's Republic (1966)
• 5 Orders of Sukhbaatar
• 2 Orders of the Red Banner of Labor of the Mongolian People's Republic

Foreign awards

• Order of Lenin (1944, 1976, 1986) (Soviet Union)
• Order of the October Revolution (Soviet Union)
• 2 Orders of Georgi Dimitrov (Bulgaria)
• Order of the Grand Cross of the Rebirth of Poland (Poland)
• Great Star of the Order of the Yugoslav Star (Yugoslavia)
• Order of the White Lion (Czechoslovakia)
• Order of Karl Marx (GDR)
• Order of Friendship of Peoples (GDR)
• Order of the National Flag (North Korea)
• Order of the National Flag (Hungary)
• Order of Jose Marti (Cuba)

Further reading

• Batbayar, Tsedendambyn. Modern Mongolia: A Concise History. Ulaanbaatar: 2002.
• Nadirov, Sh. G. Tsedenbal and the Events of August 1984. Trans. Baasan Ragchaa. Bloomington (Ind.): Mongolia Society, 2005.
• Rupen, Robert. How Mongolia is Really Ruled. A Political History of the Mongolian People’s Republic, 1900–1978. Stanford (Cal.): Hoover Institution Press, 1979.
• Shinkarev, Leonid. Tsedenbal i Filatova. Liubov’, vlast’, tragedia. Moscow and Irkutsk: Izdatel’ Sapronov, 2004.