| Peljidiin Genden Пэлжидийн Гэндэн |
|
|---|---|
| 7th General Secretary of the Communist Party of Mongolia | |
| In office 13 March 1930 – 13 March 1931 |
|
| Preceded by | Bat-Ochirin Eldev-Ochir |
| Succeeded by | Zolbingiyn Shizhee |
| Head of State Chairman of the Presidium of the State Little Khural |
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| In office 29 November 1924 – 15 November 1927 |
|
| General Secretary | Tseren-Ochiryn Dambadorj |
| Preceded by | Navaandorjiin Jadambaa |
| Succeeded by | Jamtsangiin Damdinsüren |
| Prime Minister of Mongolia | |
| In office 2 July 1932 – 22 March 1936 |
|
| General Secretary | Bat-Ochirin Eldev-Ochir Zhambin Lumbe Dorzhzhavin Luvsansharav Khas-Ochirin Luvsandorzh |
| Preceded by | Tsengeltiin Jigjidjav |
| Succeeded by | Anandyn Amar |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 1892 or 1895 Taragt district, Övörkhangai Province, Mongolia |
| Died | 26 November 1937 Moscow |
Peljidiin Genden (Mongolian: Пэлжидийн Гэндэн, usually only Genden; 1892 or 1895 - November 26, 1937) was the second President (1924 to 1927) and the ninth (1932–1936) Prime Minister of Mongolia.
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Peljidiin Genden was born in present-day Taragt district of Övörkhangai Province in either 1892 or 1895 (sources differ).[1] In 1922 he joined the Mongolian Revolutionary Youth League (MRYL), and a year later he was appointed acting head of his local cell.
In November 1924 Genden attended the first session of the Mongolian Great Khural in Niislel Khüree as a delegate from Övörkhangai. There, Prime Minister B. Tserendorj took notice of his outspokenness and based on his recommendation Genden was elected as the chairman of the Presidium of the State Small Khural or Baga Khural, the small assembly that controlled day-to-day matters of state. Genden held this position from November 29, 1924 to November 15, 1927, and served concurrently as the Chairman of the Central Bureau of Mongolia's Trade Union.
From December 11, 1928 to June 30, 1932 Genden served as one of three secretaries of the MPRP (Mongolian People’s Revolutionary Party)'s Central Committee (the others were Ölziytiyn Badrah and Bat-Ochiryn Eldev-Ochir and later Zolbingiyn Shijee). As such he became one of the driving forces behind the rapid and forced implementation of communist economic policies in early 1930s; compulsory collectivization, the abolition of private enterprises and the closure of monasteries and the confiscation of church property.[2] “Counterrevolutionary” uprisings broke out in several provinces in 1930 and 1932 as a result. In response, Moscow ordered the suspension of what it termed the “Leftist Deviation” policies of the Mongolian government and in May 1932 several party leaders (including Badrah, Shijee, and Prime Minister Tsengeltiin Jigjidjav) were purged for trying to implement communist measures “prematurely”.
Despite his central role in implementing the leftist policies, Genden deftly survived the purge by securing Joseph Stalin's favor during an internal MPRP leadership struggle.[3] Moscow then had Genden appointed as the Prime Minister (chairman of the Assembly of People's Commissaries) on July 2, 1932 to oversee execution of “New Turn” policy, a relaxation of communist economic principles closely modeled on Vladimir Lenin’s New Economic Policy in the USSR.
Under the New Turn, policy taxes were reduced, private enterprise grew, religious institutions were left unmolested. The general economic situation improved and shortages were reduced. As a result Genden became very popular and the government was in a more dominant position vis-à-vis the MPRP for the first time since the revolution.[4]
In 1933 a personal feud between two party functionaries led to trumped up accusations of widespread conspiring within the party with Japanese spies, especially among Buryats. Several of those arrested and interrogated by Soviet agents in Ulan-Bator fingered Jambyn Lkhümbe, then secretary of the MPRP Central Committee, as their leader. Several hundred innocent persons, including Lhümbe, were arrested. 56 were eventually executed (including pregnant women), 260 were jailed for three to ten years and 126 were sent to the USSR. The vast majority of those persecuted were Buryats.[5] Public opinion at the time held that Genden and D. Namsrai, head of the Internal Affairs Committee, had initiated the affair to purge political enemies, but there is evidence that the affair was driven in large part by Soviet agents looking to weaken the Buryat population in Mongolia.[6]
Genden has been described as “imprudent, shrewd, full of guile, quick tempered, belligerent, loquacious, straightforward, belligerent and arrogant”.[7] He was reportedly a womanizer, very fond of alcohol and someone who liked to talk, especially when under the influence of alcohol. He publicly criticized Stalin and the Soviet Union during moments of intoxication, for example he once openly called the Soviet Union “Red Imperialists”. He became famous for fearlessly confronting Stalin during their public meetings in Moscow and was one of the few to stand up to Stalin’s despotic character.
Paradoxically Genden was also a deeply religious man who once said “On earth there are two great geniuses – Buddha and Lenin”. In 1933 he openly declared his desire “not to fight against religion” and allowed lamas to practice their faith openly [8]
Weary of growing Soviet domination, Genden worked to postpone both a 1934 bilateral Gentlemen’s Agreement in which the USSR promised the Soviet protection of Mongolia in the event of an invasion as well as the 1936 “Treaty of Friendship and Cooperation” that allowed Soviet troops to be stationed in Mongolia. Genden’s foreign policy revolved around exploiting USSR-Japanese tensions to Mongolia’s benefit.[9]
Genden likewise hesitated on Stalin’s recommendations that he elevated Mongolia’s internal affairs committee to a fully independent ministry and that he increased the size of Mongolia’s military. Ties between Stalin and Genden began to fray as early as 1934 when, at a meeting with Genden in Moscow, Stalin pressured him to destroy Mongolia’s Buddhist clergies by exterminating more than 100,000 of the country’s lamas,[10] which Stalin called “the enemies within”.
A year later, in late 1935, Genden was called back to Moscow where Stalin again rebuked him for failing to act on his suggestions. Later, heavily intoxicated Genden publicly scolded Stalin at a Mongolian Embassy reception, shouting “You bloody Georgian, you have become a virtual Russian Czar”. Genden then allegedly snatched Stalin’s pipe and smashed it, while hinting that Mongolia was considering an alliance with Japan.[11]
Upon Genden’s return to Mongolia, Stalin and Khorloogiin Choibalsan organized the second plenary meeting of Mongolian People's Revolutionary Party in March 1936 in Ulan-Bator to eliminate the prime minister irreversibly. Party members heavily criticized Genden for his actions in Moscow and accused him of sabotaging Mongol-Soviet relations. He was subsequently removed from his offices of the prime minister and the foreign minister and placed under house arrest. Anandyn Amar was appointed as the prime minister for the second time in replacement of Genden's place. Choibalsan was henceforth Stalin’s favorite in Ulaanbaatar, became the head of the new Internal Affairs Ministry and de facto the most powerful person in Mongolia.[12]
Genden traveled to the USSR, ostensibly for medical treatment, in April 1936. He then spent a whole year “vacationing” at the Black Sea resort town of Foros. In summer 1937 he was arrested and under interrogation admitted to conspiring with "lamaist reactionaries" and "Japanese spies" [13] He was executed in Moscow on November 26, 1937 by the order of Military Collegium of the Supreme Court of the USSR for 'his attempt to political coup and being a spy of Japan'.[14]
Genden was declared as a non-person. He was rehabilitated by the order of Military Collegium of the Supreme Court of the USSR in 1956.[15] However, mentioning his name would not bring good to any speaker in Mongolia until the country became a democratic one in 1990.
His daughter Tserendulam opened the "Memorial Museum for Victims of Political Repression" in his house in 1993. It offers information on the victims of the political prosecutions, which according to some estimates affected up to 14% of the population.
| Preceded by Bat-Ochirin Eldev-Ochir |
General Secretary of the Communist Party of Mongolia 13 March 1930 - 13 March 1931 |
Succeeded by Zolbingiyn Shizhee |
| Preceded by Navaandorjiin Jadambaa |
President of Mongolia November 29, 1924 - November 15, 1927 |
Succeeded by Jamtsangiin Damdinsüren |
| Preceded by Tsengeltiin Jigjidjav |
Prime Minister of Mongolia July 2, 1932 - March 2, 1936 |
Succeeded by Anandyn Amar |
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