Lenin: Talk with a Delegation of the Mongolian People's Republic












V. I.

Lenin



Talk with a Delegation of the Mongolian People’s Republic[1]



November 5, 1921


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Published:

First published in 1934 in the book The Ninth Congress of the Mongolian People’s Revolutionary Party (September 28-October 5, 1934) Ulan-Bator, Modern Mongolia Publishing House.

Printed from the text of the book.


Source:

Lenin
Collected Works,

Second Printing,

Progress Publishers,

1971,

Moscow,

Volume 42,

pages 360b-361a.


Translated: Yuri Sdobnikov


Transcription\Markup:
D. Walters


Public Domain:



(2003).

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• README




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1st question of the Mongolian delegation: “Comrade Lenin, what do you
think about the establishment of a People’s Revolutionary Party in our
country and what is most important for us?’

Comrade Lenin outlined to our delegation our country’s international
situation and pointed out that owing to the M.P.R.’s geographical position
the imperialist powers, in case of war, would try to seize our country and
use it as a jumping-off ground for military operations against another
country. Therefore, Lenin said, the only right way for every working person
in your country was to fight for state and economic independence in
alliance with the workers and peasants of Soviet Russia. This fight could
not be carried on isolatedly, therefore the establishment of a party of
Mongolian arats was a pledge of success in their struggle.



The Mongolian delegation’s second question: “Will the national
liberation struggle be victorious?”

Comrade Lenin’s answer:

“I have been in the revolutionary movement myself for
thirty years and I know by experience how difficult it is for any people to
liberate themselves from their external and internal enslavers. Although
Mongolia is a cattle-breeding country and the bulk of her population are
nomad herdsmen, she has achieved great progress in her revolution, and most
important of all, has made good these successes by creating a People’s
Revolutionary Party of her own, whose aim is to become a mass party
uncluttered by alien elements.”



The Mongolian delegation’s third question: “Ought not the People’s
Revolutionary Party be transformed into a Communist Party?”



Comrade Lenin’s reply:

“I should not recommend it, because one party cannot be
‘transformed’ into another.” Comrade Lenin explained the essence of a
Communist Party as a party of the proletariat, and said: “The
revolutionaries will have to put in a good deal of work in developing
state, economic and cultural activities before the herdsman elements become
a proletarian mass, which may eventually help to ‘transform’ the People’s
Revolutionary Party into a Communist Party. A mere change of signboards is
harmful and dangerous.”

Comrade Lenin elaborated on the idea that it was possible and necessary
for the M.P.R. to follow a non-capitalist path of development, the main
condition for which was hard work on the part of the People’s Revolutionary
Party and the Government, so that this work and the increased influence of
the Party and the authorities would result in a growth of the number of
co-operatives, in the introduction of new forms of economic activity and
national culture, and would rally the arats behind the Party and the
Government in the interests of the country’s economic and cultural
development. It was only from the islets of the new economic way of life
created by the efforts of the Party and the Government that the new
non-capitalist economic system of arat Mongolia would take shape.




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Notes





[1]

The delegation of the Mongolian People’s Republic arrived in Moscow on
November 2, 1921. Its members were: Danzan, head of the delegation,
Minister for Finance and Chairman of the Central Committee of the Mongolian
People’s Revolutionary Party; Sukhe-Bator, Commander-in-Chief of the
People’s Revolutionary Army and War Minister; B. Tserendorzh, Deputy
Mirister for Foreign Affairs; Djon-Van-Shirnin-Dandin, representative of
religious circles, unofficial member of the delegation; Batukhan, adviser
and head interpreter. The object of the negotiations was to conclude an
agreement between the Government of the R.S.F.S.R. and the People’s
Government of Mongolia. The draft agreement was considered and approved by
the Narrow Council of People’s Commissars on November 3, 1921 (see
Collected Works, Vol. 53, Fifth Russian Edition, p. 324). On
November 5, 1921, an agreement was signed by representatives of
the R.S.F.S.R. and the M.P.R. under which both parties engaged not to allow
groups hostile to the other party to stay or be formed on their
territories, and made arrangements for the appointment of diplomatic and
consular representatives, the fixing of state boundaries, and customs
arrangements. The Soviet Government handed over to the Government of the
M.P.R. telegraph instalations in Mongolia belonging to the R.S.F.S.R.

Lenin’s talk with the delegation took place in the
Kremlin. A report of the talk was first published in the minutes of the
Ninth Congress of the M.P.R.P., which was held from September 28 to October
5, 1934. The publication was reproduced from the reminiscences of B,
Shumyatsky and B. Tserendorzh. The latter wrote in his recollections:
“Lenin spoke for a long time with the members of the delegation. He lent
an attentive ear to our stories, showed a lively interest in the most
varied aspects of life in people’s Mongolia, and gave some useful
advice. In particular, he drew our attention to the need for raising the
level of education and culture among the Mongolian people, while at the
same time stressing the need for developing the country’s economy to the
utmost with a view to meeting all the requirements of the peopi.”




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