May 15, 2012 marked the 100th anniversary of the birth of one of the most famous state, political and public figures of Mongolia in the XX century, a prominent scientist-historian, organizer of science and public education, the first rector of the Mongolian State University, one of the founders and first president of the Mongolian Academy of Sciences, a full member of the Mongolian Academy of Sciences and a foreign member of the USSR Academy of Sciences/RAS, a loyal friend of Russia and many Russian scientists, laureate of the State Prize, Honored Scientist, Hero of Labor of Mongolia, Doctor of Historical Sciences, Professor, writer Bazaryn Shirendyba (Shirendeva). His name and deeds are well known not only in Mongolia, but also in Russia and other foreign countries.
A 10-volume collection of works by B. Shirendib is being prepared for publication in Mongolia for the anniversary, a bust of him was recently installed at the Institute of History of the Academy of Sciences of Mongolia and a memorial study-museum was opened, an international scientific conference and other events are planned. The Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences has prepared a collection of articles " B. Shirendib and S. D. Dylykov in the memoirs of relatives, colleagues and friends (To the 100th anniversary of their birth)".
B. Shirendib lived a long, difficult, but bright and rich life, which reflected the main stages of the modern history of Mongolia and its relations with Russia in the XX century, achievements, difficulties and losses, ups and downs. It is no coincidence that B. Shirendib symbolically called his memoirs about his life "On the ocean waves" (Shirendev, 1993).
B. Shirendib was born in the family of a poor arat-a Bazar cattle breeder in the territory of Sayn-Noenkhan aimag (now somon Shine-Idar of Khubsugul aimag), in the north of the country. His father Bazar knew Mongolian literacy, at one time worked as an assistant clerk of the local government, was an expert in oral folk art and taught literacy not only to his own, but also to other children from Arat families. It is obvious that at the beginning of the 20th century, the son of a Mongolian nomadic pastoralist, like the vast majority of his peers, could not even dream of receiving a secular higher professional education, becoming a state and public figure, a certified scientist, president of the Academy of Sciences of his country and an honorary doctor of several academies of sciences of foreign countries.
At the age of eight, according to the tradition that existed at that time, Shirendib was sent to study in a monastery, where he studied for several years, but after the victory of the people's revolution in 1921, he moved to the newly created state primary school and successively graduated from primary and secondary schools. In 1932-1941, he was a member of a group of Mongolian students, including the future long-term leader of the country Yu. Tsedenbal and many other later well-known figures of the state, party and culture, was trained in the Soviet Union. After completing the full course of the Mongolian Faculty in Ulan-Ude in 1937, he entered the Department of History and Literature of the Irkutsk Pedagogical Institute and successfully graduated in 1941. After returning to his homeland, B. Shirendib worked for several months as a history teacher at the Ulaanbaatar Pedagogical School.
Soon, due to his fluency in the Russian language and active participation in public life, B. Shirendib was invited to work in the government office as an assistant to Prime Minister Marshal X. Choibalsana. This was facilitated by the fact that after the mass political repressions that swept through the country in the late 1930s, Mongolia experienced an acute shortage of educated, qualified national personnel.
In the 1940s, during repeated meetings of X. Choibalsana with I. V. Stalin B. Shirendib served as an interpreter. In the years that followed, he repeatedly recalled with pride that during one of these meetings, Stalin called him a "professor of the Russian language" and raised a toast to his health. Apparently, such a high rating from "Stalin himself" played an important role in the rapid promotion of B. Shirendib through the ranks of state power.
For more than 40 years, B. Shirendib was a member of the governing bodies of the state and the ruling party (Mongolian People's Revolutionary Party), was elected Secretary of the Central Committee of the Party for propaganda, worked as rector of the Mongolian State University (1944-1952), Minister of Public Education (1951-1953), Deputy Prime Minister for Culture and Education, member of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the MPRP (1953-1957), Chairman of the State Committee for Science and Higher Education (1960-1961), first President of the Academy of Sciences of the MNR (1961-1981), and others.
In 1952-1982. He was elected a deputy of the Great People's Hural of the MPR. He has repeatedly led his country's parliamentary delegations to India, Nepal, France, Romania, etc. He participated in eight international peace congresses in Warsaw, Helsinki, Stockholm, Moscow, etc.
B. Shirendib's achievements in the formation and development of the state system of public education, science and culture in Mongolia are great. He was the first rector of the first national higher education institution, the Mongolian State University (1944-1952), established with the help of the Soviet Union in 1942.
B. Shirendib was one of the initiators and organizers of the Academy of Sciences of the MNR in 1961 and its first president from 1961 to 1981. Under his leadership, the Academy of Sciences became the leading scientific institution in the country, conducting research in the field of natural, technical and social sciences, established scientific cooperation with the USSR Academy of Sciences/RAS and similar institutions in many countries. The USSR Academy of Sciences provided great assistance in the creation and development of the Mongolian Academy of Sciences/Russia and Russian scientists.
B. Shirendib was one of the most educated, competent and authoritative Mongolian historians at home and abroad. His opinion has always been listened to both in scientific circles and in the country's leadership.
The main focus of B. Shirendib's research was the new and recent history of Mongolia (the last quarter of the XIX-XX centuries). He is the author and co-author of about 30 individual and collective monographs and pamphlets, more than 200 scientific, popular science and journalistic articles, including the monographs "The People's Revolution and the Formation of the MNR (1921-1924)" (1956), " Mongolia at the Turn of the XIX-XX centuries. History of Socio-economic Development "(1963), " Bypassing Capitalism "(1967), "History of the Mongolian People's Revolution" (1969), " V. I. Lenin and the Mongolian People "(1970), "A Brief History of the Mongolian Academy of Sciences" (1980), "Awakening: Historical Essays" (1990)"Revival of the State Independence of Mongolia "(1996), etc.
The most important scientific works of B. Shirendib were devoted to one of the most important events in the history of Mongolia in the XX century - the revolution of 1921. The monograph "History of the Mongolian People's Revolution" was written on a wide range of sources (Shirendev, 1969). For many years, it has become a reference book for Mongolian and foreign historians. In 1971, its author B. Shirendib was awarded the State Prize of the MNR. In the same year, its abridged translation in Russian was published in Moscow (Shirendyb, 1971).
As is known, in the late 1980s and early 1990s, the theory and methodology of social sciences underwent radical changes in the socio-political and socio - economic life of Mongolia, Russia, and a number of other socialist countries of Central and Eastern Europe. Despite his advanced age and poor health, B. Shirendib managed to prepare and publish the second revised edition of his main scientific work - "History of the Mongolian People's Revolution". In the preface, he noted, in particular, that the first edition was being prepared at a time when there was political and ideological control and some figures of the people's revolution had not yet been rehabilitated, so the author used new archival materials and made appropriate amendments in preparing the second edition [Shirendib, 1999, p.12].
At the same time, he did not change his principled assessment of the role and influence of the October Revolution and Soviet Russia's assistance to the revolutionary movement in Mongolia.
B. Shirendib was one of the main authors and editors of a number of fundamental, collective monographs on the history of Mongolia, including the joint work of Soviet and Mongolian historians-the one-volume "History of the Mongolian People's Republic", which went through three editions (Ulaanbaatar, 1954, 1967, 1983), 3-x volume "History of the Mongolian People's Republic" (Ulaanbaatar, 1966-1969), 5-volume " History of Mongolia "(Ulaanbaatar, 2001-2003).
B. Shirendib's scientific works and memoirs have been translated and published many times in Russia, China, Japan, England, Germany, the USA and other countries. He was elected foreign
member of the USSR Academy of Sciences /RAS (1966), honorary member of the Academies of Sciences of Poland, Hungary, Germany, Czech Republic, etc., Honorary Doctor of the University of Leeds (Great Britain), honorary member of the International Association of Mongolian Studies, etc.
B. Shirendib's great services to the Mongolian state and science were marked by high government awards and honorary titles, including the Orders of Sukhbaatar, the Red Banner of Labor, the Polar Star, the State Prize, the titles of "Honored Scientist", "Hero of Labor", etc.
At the same time, B. Shirendib's life path was not straight and cloudless. B. Shirendib was a son of his time, he grew up, was brought up and worked in conditions when in the USSR and the MNR for many decades persistent attempts were made to implement the "Lenin's plan for building a socialist society" in practice, in the conditions of formation and "flourishing" First, the cult of the personality of Stalin in the USSR, then the cult of the personality of Stalin and Choibalsan in Mongolia, their subsequent exposure, condemnation, and partial elimination of the consequences of mass political repressions in 1937-1939 in Mongolia, the struggle against "delusions of the intelligentsia" and "anti-party groups" in the 1950s and 1960s, and the strengthening of the authoritarian methods of the leadership of Yu. Tsedenbala and its consequences, the beginning of perestroika in the USSR and the MNR, and democratic transformations in the country in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Like most Soviet and Mongolian politicians, statesmen, and scientists of the time, he combined the features of his controversial era.
Throughout his life, he has fully experienced both rapid ups in his political career and scientific creativity, as well as defeats and disappointments. One of the most severe and largely unfair blows for him was the decision of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the MPRP "On the unprincipled, irresponsible, careerist behavior and activities of B. Shirendyba" (1981), and the subsequent "study" campaign. But he didn't lose heart. I remember with what gratitude he spoke about the Academy of Sciences of the USSR, which at that difficult time for him did not leave him in trouble, retained the honorary title of a foreign member of the USSR Academy of Sciences and gave him the opportunity to work for several years at the Institute of Oriental Studies of the USSR Academy of Sciences as a leading
For many years, B. Shirendib maintained business and friendly relations with many prominent Russian scientists, about whom he kept warm memories [Shirendib, 2001, pp. 17-31]. In the Soviet Union and Russia, he had many colleagues and friends.
He had special feelings towards Russian Mongolian scholars, the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences, where he defended first his candidate's (1954) and then his doctoral (1961) dissertations. During the difficult years 1987-1995 B. Shirendib worked at the Institute of Historical Sciences of the Russian Academy of Sciences as a leading researcher-consultant, took an active part in the scientific life of the Department of Korea and Mongolia, made reports and reports on events and the development of historical science in Mongolia.
The memory of Bazaryn Shirendyb, an outstanding son of the Mongolian people, a prominent statesman and public figure, a major scientist, organizer of science and education, a champion of friendship and cooperation between Mongolia and Russia, a principled, hardworking, benevolent person will forever remain in my heart, as well as the hearts of many Russians and Russian scientists who personally knew and communicated with him and collaborated with him.
V. V. GRAIVORONSKY
list of literature
Shirandev B. Mongol ardyn huvsgalyn tuukh (History of the Mongolian People's Revolution). Улаанбаатар, 1969.
Shirendib B. History of the Mongolian People's Revolution of 1921, Moscow, 1971.
Shirandev B. Dalain davalgaanaar (On ocean waves). Улаанбаатар, 1993.
Ширэндэв Б. Монгол ардын хувьсгалын туух. Zalruulsan hoerdakh udaagiin havlal (History of the Mongolian People's Revolution. 2nd ed., corrected). Ulaanbaatar, 1999.
Ширэндэв Б. "Далайн давалгаанаар" номонд оруулсан зарим нэмэлт (Некоторые дополнения к книге "Далайн даваалгаанаар"). Улаанбаатар, 2000.
Shirendib B. More than half a century of scientific cooperation // Russian Mongolian Studies. Bulletin, No. 5, Moscow, 2001.
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