Anarchism in Mongolia was present during the revolutionary period of the1910s and1920s, closely linked with theRussian anarchist movement inAltai,Buryatia andTuva.
From the 19th century onwards, Mongolia acted as a refuge for Russian and Chinese revolutionaries, fleeing persecution by their respective empires. Many anarchists were drawn there by the freedom that the wide open spaces of the sparsely populated plateau afforded to them.[1][2]
With thefall of the monarchy inChina, theMongolian Revolution of 1911 overthrewQing rule, establishing the independentBogd Khanate of Mongolia, under the rule ofBogd Khan. Tuva followed suit, declaring the independence of theUryankhay Republic, later becoming aRussian protectorate. In 1917, theRussian Revolution overthrew theRussian Empire, establishing theRussian Republic inFebruary. This was itself overthrown inOctober and theRussian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic was established in its place, igniting theRussian Civil War. In its wake,Altai andBuryatia declared independence from Russia, whileTuva was divided betweenRussian andChinese occupation forces.
At the turn of 1918, anarchist detachments began to form in Siberia, including a cavalry division led byNestor Kalandarishvil[3] and aRed Guard detachment led byDmitri Tretyakov. InMarch 1918, Tretyakov's detachment attempted to establish asoviet inKyakhta, but conflict with the local population forced them to flee toIrkutsk, where they were captured, disarmed and arrested byCentrosibir.[4][5][6] With the collapse of theEastern Front and the downfall of Soviet power in Siberia, Centrosibir had ceased to function by August 1918.[7][8] This led to many leftists, including anarchists, fleeing to Mongolia to escape theWhite Terror,[9] Nestor Kalandarishvili spearheaded the border crossing,[10] leading between 800[11] and 1,500 people[12][13] to the Mongolian village ofKhatgal. They remained for a few weeks, recruiting a number ofMongols during their stay, before crossing the border back intoBuryatia atSanaga to fight a guerilla war against theRussian State.[10][13] Anarchists,Left SRs andMaximalists also made up part of the guerilla forces ofAlexander Kravchenko andPyotr Shchetinkin, which led the re-assertion of Soviet power overTuva in 1919.[14]
Pavel Baltakhinov, a Buryat anarchist who had been agitating against the Russian State as part of an anarcho-communist group in Irkutsk, fled from the White Terror in early 1919 and went into hiding in Mongolia. During his stay, Baltakhinov participated in anarchistagitprop among the local Mongols, such that when he returned to Siberia in August 1919, he brought many Mongols along with him, where they joined the anarchist guerillas led by Kalandarishvili.[15] He eventually came to command a Buryat guerilla detachment,[16][17][18][19] made up of 50-60 people.[20]
InOctober 1919, theAnhui warlordXu Shuzheng led themilitary occupation of Mongolia and Tuva, backed by theEmpire of Japan. InFebruary 1921, the Chinese occupation forces were ousted by theWhite generalRoman von Ungern-Sternberg,[21] who restoredBogd Khan to the throne and led pogroms against Mongolian leftists andJews.[22] Buryat anarchists took up thestruggle against the occupation, forcing theWhite Army out of Mongolia.[15] In its place, theTuvan People's Republic was established by theTuvan People's Revolutionary Party and theMongolian People's Republic was later established by theMongolian People's Party, as part of a coalition between the old nobility and the newBolshevik order, leading to early anti-government protests by manyArats.[23] Repression followed theSoviet Union's annexation ofAltai andBuryatia, leading many, including theAltaian anarchistIvan Novosyolov, to flee first to Mongolia and then to China.[24]
Nevertheless, forms ofradical leftism continued to exist in Mongolia throughout the early 1920s, particularly among the "Revolutionary Union of Youth of Mongolia". It was established inAugust 1921 and organized forsocial equality, increasedliteracy,women's liberation,anti-clericalism and theabolition of serfdom.[25] They criticized the sluggish implementation of social reforms and refused to submit to the ruling party, noting that "much things remain as before: the princes oppress, keeping the old order, ignoring the people's situation, guided by hereditary rights and resisting the People's Government."[26] The People's Party denounced the union as anarchist rebels and theprime ministerDogsomyn Bodoo called for the implementation of extreme measures to suppress it. In response, the union armed themselves and called for the removal of government officials that opposed them, but the Buryat revolutionaryRinchingiin Elbegdorj prevented any armed confrontation from taking place.[27] TheCommunist International, concerned by theheterogeneous nature of the Mongolian revolutionary movement, ordered itsBolshevization. It later oversaw the formal subjugation of the Youth Union to the People's Party, further eliminating dissent to single-party rule.[28]
The Arats, who were being marginalized by the nobility and party officials, continued to push for social reforms - even managing to achieve some in Tuva.[29] However, the nobility continued to hold onto power and the feudal marginalization of Arats continued. In response, many Arats formed Chuduruk Nam, an armed anarchist militant group[30][31] with the goal of protecting the Arats from the oppressive practices of the nobility and party officials. The organization confiscated cattle and property from the wealthy, attacked corrupt party officials, encouragedfree love and promotedsanitation andhygiene.[32]
In March 1924, acounter-revolutionary insurrection was incited by the local nobility and clergy, aiming for a return totraditionalist values.[33] Supported by the Mongolian government, it demanded Tuva be annexed into the Mongolian state,[34] but the insurrection was quickly put down by the intervention of theSoviet Union, a Tuvan government detachment and squads of volunteer Arats.[35] Despite the role that Arats played in putting down the insurrection, the government blamed radical Arat activists for the situation, alleging that Chuduruk Nam had provoked it. As a result, Arat party officials were removed from their posts, including the Tuvan party chairman Oyun Kyursedi.[36] In December 1924, the Chuduruk Nam detachment was surrounded by government forces in theUlug-Khem Valley and forcibly disarmed.[37]
With the elimination of the remaining left-wing opposition, the ruling parties of Mongolia and Tuva consolidated their power, overseen by theCommunist Party of the Soviet Union. In Tuva, power fell toDonduk Kuular, a formerLama withtheocratic andnationalist ambitions. In 1929, the Soviet Union orchestrated acoup d'état, which removed and executed Donduk. He was replaced withSalchak Toka, a hardlineStalinist that ruled Tuva until his death in 1972, overseeing theSoviet annexation of the country duringWorld War II. In Mongolia, power had fallen toPeljidiin Genden, an outspoken critic ofSoviet Imperialism andJoseph Stalin'santi-religious campaigns. After a public argument with Stalin, Peljidiin was removed from power byKhorloogiin Choibalsan, another hardline Stalinist. Peljidiin was subsequently executed and declared a nonperson during theGreat Purge, which initiated a campaign ofrepression in Mongolia. The left-wing opposition remained suppressed until theMongolian Revolution of 1990, which ended single-party rule in Mongolia.
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