Jamtsangiin Damdinsüren ( Mongolian: Жамцангийн Дамдинсүрэн) (1898–1938) was a Mongolian politician, member of the Mongolian People's Revolutionary Party (MPRP) and titular Head of state of Mongolia from the period of January 16, 1927 to January 23, 1929.

Biography

Damdinsüren was born in Sain Noyon Khan Aimag (present day

Zavkhan Province Zavkhan (; mn, Завхан, Zawhan, ) is one of the 21 aimags (provinces) of Mongolia, located in the west of the country, 1,104 km from Ulaanbaatar. Its capital is Uliastai. The aimag is named after the Zavkhan River, which forms the border b ...

). As a young child he studied

Tibetan language Tibetan language may refer to: * Classical Tibetan, the classical language used also as a contemporary written standard * Lhasa Tibetan, the most widely used spoken dialect * Any of the other Tibetic languages See also *Old Tibetan, the language ...

and classical

Mongolian script The classical or traditional Mongolian script, also known as the , was the first writing system created specifically for the Mongolian language, and was the most widespread until the introduction of Cyrillic in 1946. It is traditionally writte ...

. At age 16 he became a clerk in the local government. In 1923 he was appointed chief of staff of the new rural district in present-day

Uliastai Uliastai ( mn, Улиастай; ), also spelled Uliyasutai or Oulia-Sontai, and sometimes known as Javkhlant, is a city in Mongolia located in the western part of the country and from the capital Ulaanbaatar. Uliastai is the capital of Zavkhan P ...

. In 1925 he was elected as a delegate to the Fourth Congress of the Mongolian Revolutionary Youth League (MRYL). At this congress Damdinsuren was elected a member of the Presidium and head of the Central Committee of the MYRL. At the MPRP Fifth Congress he was elected member of the Great Hural which in turn elected him a member of the Small Khural. At the Sixth Party Congress in early 1927 he was re-elected Chairman of the MRYL and a member of the MPRP Central Committee. The Central Committee elected him as a member of the MPRP Presidium and he was then chosen as its Chairman, making him titular head of state of Mongolian People's Republic. Damdinsuren would hold this post from January 16, 1927 to January 23, 1929. In 1928 the MPRP Seventh Party Congress ushered in the "Leftist Period" that signaled a more aggressive approach to implementation of Soviet backed leftist policies such as more rapid collectivization, land expropriation, and persecution of the Buddhist Church. Soviet advisers arranged for Damdinsüren to be replaced by the more pliable

Khorloogiin Choibalsan Khorloogiin Choibalsan ( mn, Хорлоогийн Чойбалсан, spelled ''Koroloogiin Çoibalsan'' before 1941; 8 February 1895 – 26 January 1952) was the leader of Mongolia (Mongolian People's Republic) and Marshal (general chief com ...

, who was "kicked upstairs" to be Chairman of the Little Hural. Damdinsüren was in turn named deputy prime minister and minister of agriculture and then minister of animal husbandry. In 1930, he was relieved of his duties as member of the MPRP Presidium of the Central Committee during the Eight Party Congress and named head of the propaganda department of the Secretariat of the Central Committee. During the collectivization campaigns of 1930–1931, he returned to Zavkhan Province where he took up position as secretary of the commune and the director of a collective farm. From 1931 to 1934 he returned to Ulaanbaatar to work as General Secretary of Cooperatives, but then he returned again to Zavkhan to head the department of the local co-operative production. From 1934 to 1938 Damdinsüren was the second deputy chief of staff in Zavkhan Province and the head of the department of animal husbandry. In 1938 Damdinsüren was accused of counterrevolutionary activity during

Great Terror The Great Purge or the Great Terror (russian: Большой террор), also known as the Year of '37 (russian: 37-й год, translit=Tridtsat sedmoi god, label=none) and the Yezhovshchina ('period of Nikolay Yezhov, Yezhov'), was General ...

(1937-1939) and shortly thereafter he was executed. He was rehabilitated in 1959. 1898 births 1938 deaths Mongolian People's Party politicians Speakers of the State Great Khural Mongolian communists Heads of state of Mongolia Communist rulers Communism in Mongolia People from Zavkhan Province Executed Mongolian people Great Purge victims from Mongolia Executed communists {{Mongolia-politician-stub