Negdel ( mn, Нэгдэл, "union, association") is the common term for the agricultural cooperatives in the

Mongolian People's Republic The Mongolian People's Republic ( mn, Бүгд Найрамдах Монгол Ард Улс, БНМАУ; , ''BNMAU''; ) was a socialist state which existed from 1924 to 1992, located in the historical region of Outer Mongolia in East Asia. It w ...

. The full name is Khödöö aj akhuin negdel ( mn, Хөдөө аж ахуйн нэгдэл = ''Agricultural association'').

History

Early attempts

The first attempts at agricultural collectivization in the

were made in 1930-32, but failed miserably. Mongolia's livestock population decreased by around a third and the forceful manner in which collectivization was conducted lead to uprisings that could only be quelled with the help of the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

Introduction of the negdel

New attempts at collectivization were begun with different tactics and another name - the cooperatives in the early 1930s had been called khamtral, i.e. ''collective,

kolkhoz A kolkhoz ( rus, колхо́з, a=ru-kolkhoz.ogg, p=kɐlˈxos) was a form of collective farm in the Soviet Union. Kolkhozes existed along with state farms or sovkhoz., a contraction of советское хозяйство, soviet ownership or ...

'' - in the mid-1930s, but initially only on a very small scale: while there were 139 negdels country-wide in 1950,H.Barthel, ''Mongolei - Land zwischen Taiga und Wüste'', Gotha 1990, p. 108f in 1949 ten negdels in Khövsgöl combined had no more than 4,700 animals, with the smallest negdel only owning 43.

Collectivization

The move towards collectivization gained momentum in the mid-1950s and by 1960, 99.5% of herders had "voluntarily" joined a negdel. The number of negdels was gradually decreased so that in time they became identical to sums both area and population-wise.

Dissolution

After the dissolution of the Soviet Union and the

Mongolian Revolution of 1990 The Mongolian Revolution of 1990, known in Mongolia as the 1990 Democratic Revolution ( mn, 1990 оны ардчилсан хувьсгал, ), was a peaceful democratic revolution which led to the country's transition to a multi-party syst ...

, the herds were

privatized Privatization (also privatisation in British English) can mean several different things, most commonly referring to moving something from the public sector into the private sector. It is also sometimes used as a synonym for deregulation when ...

again and all negdels dissolved. Farms were organized into private companies. The process of privatisation occurred through two phases of reform between 1991 and 1992.

Organization

A negdel was organized into several brigades that were mostly nomadic. The members of a negdel received wages and were entitled to holidays and pensions. Dependent on the geographical location, herders were allowed to keep 10-15 private animals per family member, but no more than 50-75 per family.

References

Cooperatives in Mongolia Agricultural cooperatives {{Mongolia-stub