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MongoliaMass Organizations
Youth Organizations
The Mongolian Revolutionary Youth League, founded on August
25, 1921, is the party's most important auxiliary. The Party
Program describes the organization as the party's "militant
assistant and reliable reserve." In 1986 the league had 235,000
members between fifteen and twenty-eight years of age and was a
significant element in reinforcing the party ranks and in
contributing to social and economic development. A good record as
a youth league member was a prerequisite to selection for party
membership. Seminars, lectures, and technical schools were run
under league sponsorship to raise the ideological, educational,
and cultural standards of Mongolian youths. The league also
played an active role in preparing youths for service in the
armed forces by instilling patriotism and by encouraging
participation in reserve training programs to maintain a high
level of physical fitness.
The league structure resembles that of the party, with a
Central Committee, a Political Bureau composed of members and
candidate members, and a Secretariat. Tserendorjiyn Narangerel,
who was sixty-eight in 1989, was elected first secretary of the
Mongolian Revolutionary Youth League in 1984. In 1986 he was
elected to the party Central Committee and became a deputy in the
People's Great Hural. Narangerel's predecessor until 1983 was
Lodongiyn Tudev, who became editor-in-chief of the Mongolian
People's Revolutionary Party newspaper, Unen (Truth). In
addition to Narangerel, the top league leadership in 1989
included a second secretary and four secretaries. Below the
national level, the league included committees led by first
secretaries in various-level units that had structures comparable
to that of the party. The league belonged to the World Federation
of Democratic Youth and the International Union of Students.
The Sukhe Bator Mongolian Pioneers Organization, named after
the revolutionary hero, Damdiny Sukhe Bator, and founded in May
1925, was supervised by the Mongolian Revolutionary Youth League.
With a membership, in the late 1980s, of 360,000, it served
children ages ten to fifteen. In 1989 its head--and chairman of
the Central Council--was concurrently a secretary of the
Mongolian Revolutionary Youth League Central Committee. Like the
youth league, the Pioneers Organization is meant to involve the
children in active work and service in fulfilling party goals. It
sponsored rallies focused on labor themes; provided medals for
good progress in work and study; and encouraged the ideological,
moral, and educational development of children. The organization
also hosted sports competitions, art reviews, and festivals. In
the summer, the organization operated camps to enhance the
physical training and the education of youths.
Data as of June 1989
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