In a new government with an ever changing cast of characters, it is often useful to pick one who has already fallen as the ideal to strive for. He is no longer competing for power himself, and has no risk of disappointing in the future. So slip on your smoking jacket, fill your pipe, take your first sip of your adult beverage, and sit back in your most comfortable chair. Welcome to todays offering from The Philatelist.
Axe and hero are usually not two words that fit together, outside the world of the firefighter. This is however Mongolia we are talking about. The communist People’s party of Mongolia was put in power by action of the Soviet Red Army. That does not sound particularly independent or patriotic. So the role of one of the Soviets collaborators is emphasized, with just enough truth to be credible. To his credit, he does look the part of a young Asian revolutionary. Wonder if Stalin looked at pictures of dead Mongolian collaborators, and picked the guy who looked the part and whose given name meant axe hero to be elevated. The actual head of Mongolia was a Buhdist Monk, good communists would not want to talk of him. Remember the old communist joke. The future is certain, it is the past that is always changing.
Todays stamp is issue A10 a 40 Mung stamp issued by the Mongolian People’s Republic in 1932. It was a 13 stamp issue in various denominations that showed the sights and people of Mongolia. According to the Scott Catalog, the stamp is worth $2.00 mint.
Sukhe Bator, then done as one word was born in very poor circumstances in 1893, the son of an itinerant day laborer. Both parents often abandoned the big family seeking work. Bator a street kid, befriended Russian children from the nearby Russian embassy, and learned some Russian. Mongolia of the time was a vassal of Imperial China but in reality had strong connections to Russia. When the Imperial Chinese government fell in 1912, Mongolia declared independence under a Buddhist Monk named Bogd Khan. His government offered national service to street teens and Bator spent time in Khan’s army and civil service. During this time Bator married a woman of higher station than his own. The benefits of a steady job in a poor country.
The steady job became less steady. Chinese Manchurian warlord Zhang Zoulin, whom some may remember from the other days Manchurian stamp, invaded Mongolia and brought it under his government. Bogd Khan was put on house arrest and his army and civil service dissolved. Many of these people including Bator then joined left leaning organizations that sought help from the Soviet Union to dislodge Zhang and restore Bogd Kahn. Bator succeeded in sneaking a letter from Kahn to the Soviets in the hollowed handle of a horsewhip. The Mongolian group, formalized as a peoples party and received military training. At first the only military action allowed was at Khiagt, where Chinese had crossed the Soviet border. At this time a separate Czarist white Russian force crossed into Mongolia and pushed out the Chinese. This was not acceptable to the Soviet Union and the Red Army invaded and defeated the already running white Russian force. The People’s Party was put in charge with Kahn as a figurehead and Bator put in charge of the armed forces. He was still in his 20s.
There was much jockeying for position and many were executed for coup planning. As head of the armed forces, it was Bator’s job to prevent this. He was not up to this pressure and suffered a mental breakdown in 1923. He died under mysterious circumstances a few days later. Some think he was poisoned and others think pneumonia got him. His memory was raised highly after his death and his statue still stands in the capital Ulan Bator. After Bator’s death, his wife received further training at the Communist University of the Toilers of the East in Moscow. What Asian wouldn’t want to attend that? Deng Xiaoping and Ho Chi Minh were also there. She was later a politician in her own right, rising to Chairperson of the Presidium and for a short period acting President of Mongolia.
Well my drink is empty and I will pour another to toast myself for not making a gay prostitute joke over what Bator’s name sounds like in English. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting. First published in 2019.