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MongoliaGeneral Political Values and Attitudes
The political system became heavily regimented under
communism and the organizational principle of democratic
centralism. Young and elderly citizens, urban and rural dwellers,
skilled and unskilled laborers all had to become fully involved
in, and cognizant of, the goals and the ideological content of
party programs. Inevitably, the implementation of this political
system has provoked a variety of responses. Mongolians, now
middle-aged and older, who by 1959 had experienced
collectivization and were deprived of their animal herds and the
freedom to roam in search of new pastures, harbored resentment
against the government's procedures and limitations on their
erstwhile freedoms. Any outright opposition was put down quickly,
but negative feelings probably have not been eradicated.
Support for the regime existed, and it was likely to continue
in the 1990s among those with the greatest stake in the success
of its policies--for example, party and government cadres,
economists, and technocrats. The earlier sovietization of
politics and society, and the role of officials in that process,
had given this group an elevated status, but with the concomitant
requirement that they exhort the people to uphold the preferred
values of conformity and political orthodoxy at the expense of
more traditional values and spontaneity. Improvements in
communications and transportation as well as the opportunities
for reaching a larger audience afforded by increased literacy
have permitted the communist regime and its cadres more immediate
contact with the populace. By the 1980s, there were no more mass
political purges, but the state machinery had become more
efficient and pervasive in organization. Its political influence
was deeply felt throughout the country. How this system would
fare under the reformist policies of openness and democratization
could not be assessed in mid-1989.
Reportedly, some resistance to this method of rule--from
Mongolian youths who were better-educated, aware that change was
occurring, and anxious that even greater openness be permitted--
was becoming evident. Politically, they seemed to advocate
extending the trend toward democratization. They viewed democracy
more as a human right than as a means for improving the political
system and its policies, by such methods as encouraging public
criticism of cadre incompetence, poor management practices, and
so forth. Youth demands also may have been shared by the artistic
community and by some members of the intelligentsia. The latter,
while saluting the de-Stalinization campaign ongoing in 1989,
also may have wanted a more extensive reappraisal of Mongolian
culture and its heroes. It was difficult to assess how deep these
feelings were, but observers doubted that they represented any
immediate threat to the regime's stability.
Data as of June 1989
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