Table of Contents in the Asian Legal Encyclopedia
Communist Governments in Mongolia in Asia
Communism: Communist Governments in Other Regions Asia Mongolia
Mongolia, an appendage of the Chinese empire until 1911, was the first country outside Soviet frontiers to accept a communist regime. Local, Russian, and Chinese factions fought for mastery there from 1911 until 1921, when the Mongolian People’s Party (later the Mongolian People’s Revolutionary Party, or MPRP), a pro-Soviet group headed by Damdiny Sühbaatar, won out. A Mongolian People’s Republic was proclaimed in the capital city, Ulaanbaatar, in 1924, and the MPRP became the sole legal party. Under the long-lived leadership of Horlogiyn Choybalsan and then of Yumzhagiyen Tsedenbal, Mongolia was a pliant ally of the Soviet Union. It sent troops to help Soviet forces fight Japanese divisions crossing over from China in the late 1930s, and it again sent troops during the Soviet occupation of Manchuria in 1945. It also sided with Moscow during the Sino-Soviet conflict, the rift in relations between China and the USSR that developed in the early 1960s. Developments in Mongolia after 1985 paralleled those in Eastern Europe. Reforms began slowly, but by the early 1990s the country had instituted a multiparty system and embarked on market reforms. In 1993 President Punsalmaagiyn Ochirbat, who had split from the MPRP and aligned himself with the opposition, was reelected president in the country’s first direct presidential elections. The MPRP regained control of parliament in 2000, and today it remains the largest political party in Mongolia.
In this Section: Communism in China Development, Communism in China Under Mao, Communism in China After Mao, Communist Governments in Mongolia, Communist Governments in Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos, Communist Governments in North Korea, Communist Governments in Afghanistan and Communist Governments in South Yemen. (1)