Yumjaagiin Tsedenbal - Career

Career

In 1939, having returned to Ulaanbaatar, Tsedenbal worked first as a deputy minister, and then as a minister of finance. In 1940, at the 10th Congress of the Mongolian People's Revolutionary Party, he became the party's General Secretary at age 23.

After taking over premiership in 1952 with Marshal Khorloogiin Choibalsan's death, Tsedenbal successfully purged his political rivals: Dashiin Damba in 1958-59, Daramyn Tömör-Ochir in 1962, Luvsantserengiin Tsend in 1963, and the so-called Lookhuuz-Nyambuu-Surmaajav "anti-party group" in December 1964. He held this office until 11 June 1974, when he became head of state.

His foreign policy was marked by efforts to bring Mongolia into ever closer cooperation with the USSR. While he and his group of party leaders, such as Tsagaan-Lamyn Dugersuren and Damdinjavyn Maidar, were dissatisfied with the overspecialized and subordinated economic role that the Soviet leadership assigned to Mongolia within the Comecon, and sought to foster industrialization even in the face of Soviet opposition, Tsedenbal was cautious enough to frequently express his loyalty to the Kremlin, and portray his intra-party critics, including Daramyn Tömör-Ochir, Tsogt-Ochiryn Loohuuz and others, as "pro-Chinese factionalists" and "nationalists." With the full backing of the Soviets, Tsedenbal successfully purged his political opponents. It is said that during his time as head of the state, Tsedenbal submitted requests for the incorporation of Mongolia into the USSR on five to eight occasions, but these proposals were invariably rejected by the Soviet leaders. It is possible, however, that Tsedenbal's requests for incorporation were not made in earnest but served only manipulative purposes. At the time of the Sino-Soviet split, Tsedenbal decisively sided with the Soviet Union and incurred China's wrath. In Mongolia Tsedenbal is remembered for successfully maintaining a path of relatively moderate socialism during the Cold War.

Tsedenbal was forced into retirement in August 1984 in a Soviet-sponsored move, allegedly on the account of his old age and mental weakness but at least partly because of his opposition to the process of Sino-Soviet rapprochement that had started with Leonid Brezhnev's Tashment speech in March 1982. Jambyn Batmönkh became the general secretary of the MPRP. Tsedenbal remained in Moscow until his death; his body was brought to Mongolia, where it was buried.

His Russian wife, Anastasia Ivanovna Filatova (Анастасия Ивановна Филатова), was often said to be the most powerful political figure in Mongolia due to her close relationship with the Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev.