After Xu Shuzeng and Urgern were driven out, the number of Chinese peasants in the north of Mongolia dwindled drastically. In 1911 they numbered almost one hundred thousand but dropped to eight numbers never approached the 1911 level. In other words, after this disorganized attack, the Mongols achieved what they had always wanted. Outer Mongolia had thrown off, once and for all, e facto Chinese occupation and twenty-five years later this independence became de jure.
The Bolsheviks Comes to Terms with Reality
In 1921, as it had ten years earlier, the nucleus of Mongolia’s independence revolved around the Javzandamba Hutagt. It appears that Shumyatskii and the Mongols who had gone to Irkutsk had suggested forming a government headed by the Bogd Khan. It is absolutely true that the Mongols who had come asking for help would not topple him. In particular, they would not topple him. But somehow, they had to reconcile with the Comintern. Suggestions were made for carrying out a national and bourgeois-type revolution, creating a kingdom with limited rights with due consideration of the historical circumstances, rather than developing a Soviet-type government.
Members of the MPP, immediately upon their return home, called on the Bogd Khan to report the success of their mission. The Prime Minister of the Provisional Government, Bodoo, said, “We, representatives of the people, as instructed by the Bogd Khan and many other lamas and nobles, obtained help from great Russia, destroyed the alien aggressors and have liberated the country”.
National Coalition Government
In the time since the autonomous government had been destroyed by little Xu, the last Prime Minister Badamdorj had died, and the government led by Manzshir Hutagt TSedendorj, installed by the Bloody Baron, had disappeared, no government remained whose power might be restored. The provisional government constituted the foundation for the new government. The resolution, which officially decided on the name “People’s Government”, stated that the People’s Government could be construed as unreliable if the word “provisional” were not eliminated. Bodoo was appointed the Prime Minister, Danzan the Finance Minister, Sukhbaatar the Minister of War and the other two remaining ministry portfolios were left to seasoned Mongolian nobles. Da Lama Puntsagdorj was made Minister of Internal Affairs while Magsarjav was appointed the Justice Minister. Senior ministry posts and under Hural were assigned to experienced and educated people who had served in the former autonomous government. In other words, the MPP did not carry out any social revolution there was no need to do so and, after accomplishing their objective of liberating the country, they rallied around the Bogd Khan and set to build up the new state.
Bodoo and the Mongols True Desire
The aim of the Mongols was clear from the very beginning. Their highest goal was to unite Outer and Inner Mongolia, Barga and Urianhai, and set up a sovereign, independent Mongolia. At the very least, they wanted Outer Mongolia to become an independent state, and if the worst came to the worst, they could bear Chinese control de jure if they had de facto power of decision independent of China. Literally every Outer Mongol, starting from the Javzandamba down to the commoner in the street, was obsessed with this desire-they were not divided into opposing classes and groups and did not wage a power struggle among themselves. Of course, minor controversies as to what kind of social and political structure the country might have in the future could not be avoided. For instance, socially conscientious and educated men like Bodoo wanted to set up a republic, while a handful of people, influenced by the Russians and the Buriads, wanted to set up a Soviet-type government.
D.Bodoo once said to a trusted friend, “It was a good thing to seek assistance from the Red Soviets but it is not right to let them interfere with our internal policies”. When he received an invitation to attend the 3rd Comintern conference on behalf of the MRPP arrived, he sent Tseveen Jamsrano instead. Also, when he was invited to become ambassador to Russia after he stepped down from office, Bodoo said that the world “not live in a country with neither religion nor gods.
Mongols Declaration of Independence
The Declaration of the Independence of Mongolia was issued to foreign states on September 14, 1921, signed by Prime Minister/Foreign Minister Bodoo. It was written in a clever manner.
The basic idea of the declaration was about how, as the abuses of Urgern had become intolerable, the troops of the People’s Party were mobilized and how, with the help of Soviet Russia, Urgern had been crushed with great difficulty. But China, which had obliged itself to guarantee and safeguard the life and property of the people of Mongolia with troops and not only had destroyed their autonomy but had also provoked disturbances, bringing much sorrow to the masses, and executing many innocent people. This, however, had not been the policy of the government of China, but the reckless acts of a few individuals, and so Mongolia harbors neither evil nor hatred towards China. However, Mongolia would, the text said, never again accept suzerainty. Since Soviet Russia is promising to nullify the obnoxious treaties of Tsarist Russia and recognize Mongolia, Let us all, it continued – China, Soviet Russia and Mongolia-co-exist as friendly neighbors.
Chronology
- 1921, February: The 7th Bogd Javzandamba declared Khan of Mongolia.
- July 19: The People’s Government newspaper Uria (The Rallying Cry) was published.
- August 25: An organization called the Revolutionary Youth Union (Boshgyg Halah Zaluuchuudyn Evlel) was set up in Ulaanbaatar.
- September 1: The People’s Government’s resolution ratified a charter called Tangariin Geree. The principles of the relationship between the Bogd Khan and the People’s Government were established. A Constitutional Monarch was declared.
- September 14: The Declaration of Mongolian the Independence of foreign powers was issued, signed by Prime Minister Bodoo.
- September 20: The general law of the state structure of Mongolia was ratified.