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The December 1988 plenum of the Mongolian People's Revolutionary Party (MPRP) Central Committee was a milestone in the country's economic and political reform movement. The restructuring (oorchlon shinechlel) of government had been under way since the end of 1987, but the economic progress that it should have promoted was still being hindered by bureaucratic attitudes and lack of initiative among middle-level managers. Jambyn Batmonh, general secretary of the MPRP and chairman of the Presidium of the People's Great Hural (national assembly), said that the necessary popular drive could be encouraged by greater il tod (glasnost) in political and social affairs and the prospect of such moves toward democratic government as multicandidate election of officials for fixed terms. 1 Many letters on the themes of renewal and openness were published in the party and government newspaper, Unen, but except for general environmental issues, they remained largely confined to a fairly narrow spectrum of low-level problems arising in the daily life and work of individuals. However, for the first time the former Mongolian leader, Yumjaagiyn Tsedenbal, deposed in August 1984, was held responsible by name for the country's "years of stagnation."2 |
