--- uvj at vsnl.com wrote:
>
> I was surprised to read that "nearly half the 2.7
> million population are nomadic
> herders" even today. Would you know how Mongolia
> retained its pastoral character despite decades of
> the Soviet influence? One would expect the Soviets
> to build huge dams, steel mills, tractor plants
> etc.How did Mongolia escape the achievements of the
> Soviet Five Years Plans? :)
>
> Ulhas
I found some material on this through the magic of google: http://mailman.lbo-talk.org/pipermail/lbo-talk/Week-of-Mon-20060717/date.html
Apparently the Mongolian Communists tried to force-collective the herders (like the Soviets did to the reindeer-herders in Siberia) and that led to uprisings and famine (predictably). Eventually the Soviets got them to adopt a "softer" approach and the previous policy got labelled as "left deviationist."
I find the idea of "building socialism" in a society of illiterate nomads with an urban proletariat population of 0 to be a bit goofy, myself.
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