Peljidiin Genden (1892-26 November 1937) was President of the Mongolian People's Republic from 29 November 1924 to 15 November 1927 (succeeding Navaandorjiin Jadambaa and preceding Jamtsangiin Damdinsuren) and Prime Minister from 2 July 1932 to 22 March 1936 (succeeding Tsengeltiin Jigjidjav and preceding Anandyn Amar). He was a member of the Mongolian People's Revolutionary Party, and he was executed by Joseph Stalin during the Great Purge.
Biography[]
Peljidiin Genden was born in Khujirt, Ovorkhangai, Mongolia in 1892, and he joined the Mongolian People's Revolutionary Party youth league in 1922, becoming acting head of his local cell that same year. In November 1924, he entered the Great Khural, and Prime Minister Balingiin Tserendorj appointed him head of state of the Mongolian People's Republic that same month. He pushed for rapid and forced implementation of socialist policies such as compulsory collectivization, the abolition of private enterprises, the closure of monasteries, and the confiscation of church property. 700 heads of noble households were executed, while 800 properties belonging to the nobility and the church were confiscated. After revolts broke out against the communist government between 1930 and 1932, Joseph Stalin ordered the purge of several high-ranking MPRP leaders for "prematurely" implementing socialist policies, and Genden became Prime Minister in 1932. He survived the purge by meeting with Stalin and gaining his favor, and he relaxed communist economic principles, closely modeling Mongolia's new programs on Vladimir Lenin's New Economic Policy in the Soviet Union. However, he resisted Moscow's pressure to liquidate institutional Buddhism, refused to permit increased Soviet influence in Mongolia, and fearlessly confronted Stalin during their public meetings in Moscow and stood up to his strong personality. As a result, he was accused of conspiring against the revolution (as a supported of "Lamaist reactionaries") and spying for the Japanese, and he was executed in Moscow in 1937.