21 Facts About Peljidiin Genden

Peljidiin Genden was a Mongolian politician and statesman who served as the first president of Mongolia from 1924 to 1927, and the ninth prime minister of the country from 1932 to 1936.

Peljidiin Genden was born in present-day Khujirt district of Ovorkhangai Province in either 1892 or 1895.

Peljidiin Genden attended the first session of the Mongolian Great Khural in Ulaanbaatar in November 1924 as a delegate from Ovorkhangai.

Peljidiin Genden served as one of three secretaries of the Mongolian People's Revolutionary Party's Central Committee from December 11,1928, to June 30,1932.

Together with fellow secretaries Olziin Badrakh and Bat-Ochiryn Eldev-Ochir, Peljidiin Genden urged for swift compulsory implementation of socialist economic policies such as forced collectivization, bans on private enterprise, the closure of monasteries and the forfeiture of their property.

Peljidiin Genden deftly survived the purge by meeting with Joseph Stalin in 1932 and winning over the Soviet leader.

Peljidiin Genden was placed in charge of the implementation of Mongolia's "New Turn" or "New Reform" economic plan.

Peljidiin Genden's popularity increased as Mongolia's economy was strengthening and shortages were being reduced.

Ties between Stalin and Peljidiin Genden began to fray as early as 1934 when, at a meeting with Peljidiin Genden in Moscow, Stalin urged him to destroy Mongolia's Buddhist clergies.

Peljidiin Genden told the Mongolian leader to exterminate more than 100,000 of his nation's lamas, whom Stalin called "the enemies within".

Suspicious of growing Soviet domination in Mongolia, Peljidiin Genden actively postponed both a 1934 bilateral gentlemen's agreement, in which the USSR promised to protect Mongolia from potential invasion, as well as the 1936 "Mutual Assistance Pact" that allowed for the stationing of Soviet troops in Mongolia.

Peljidiin Genden hoped to stave off Soviet domination by exploiting the diplomatic strain between the USSR and Japan to Mongolia's benefit, but the policy would later prove to be his undoing as accusations surfaced in 1936 that he was working on the side of the Japanese.

Peljidiin Genden likewise hesitated on Stalin's recommendations that he elevate Mongolia's internal affairs committee to a fully independent ministry and that he increase the size of Mongolia's military.

In December 1935, Peljidiin Genden traveled again to Moscow, where Stalin dismissed his requests for economic assistance, and again rebuked him for not following instructions.

Peljidiin Genden became argumentative after this meeting, and later started a fight with Stalin while heavily intoxicated during a reception at the Mongolian Embassy.

Peljidiin Genden then slapped Stalin and broke his pipe according to some witnesses.

Peljidiin Genden later attempted to defend himself over the incident in his final public statement:.

Peljidiin Genden was removed from his offices of both the prime minister and the foreign minister and then placed under strict house arrest.

Peljidiin Genden was "invited" to the USSR, ostensibly for medical care, in April 1936.

Peljidiin Genden then spent one year at the resort town of Foros on the Black Sea.

Peljidiin Genden was declared a nonperson in Mongolia; however, he would be rehabilitated in 1956 by the Military Collegium of the Supreme Court of the Soviet Union, nearly two decades after his death.