The Congress of Mongolologists-Philologists In Ulanbaatar (1959) in the Ideological Contexts of the Cold War

Introduction. In September 1959, a landmark event for Mongolian science — the First International Congress of Mongolologists Philologists — took place in Ulaanbaatar. Its aim was to promote Mongolian Studies and strengthen contacts between scholars. The forum brought together researchers from a number of countries, including those having been separated by the Cold War Iron Curtain. Purpose. The article is to examine the Congress preparation and holding, focusing on previously untouched its ideological contexts. The article is based on the materials from the Russian Academy of Sciences Archives and publications of Congress participants from the USSR, the UK and the USA. Result and conclusions. The study showed that it was important for the Congress organizers that political and ideological disagreements between representatives of different countries did not arise during its work. Mongolian scholars discussed their probability in 1958 with Yu. Roerich during his business trip to Ulaanbaatar. When forming the list of participants in the Congress, the Mongolian Committee of Science took into account the political views of scientists and consulted with the USSR Academy of Sciences on this issue. In addition, at the beginning of the Congress, the delegations of the USSR, Mongolia and China agreed not to enter into discussions among themselves in order to demonstrate the unity of friendly countries. The author concludes that the Congress in Ulaanbaatar was one of the first scientific events of Mongolian Studies during the Cold War period with a broad international representation of scholars from countries belonging to the opposing political blocs. Despite the organizers’ concerns, the Congress demonstrated the leadership of scientific internationalism. Several cases of «political-tinget» disagreements did not come to the forefront of its proceedings. The Congress also demonstrated a significant expansion of international contacts of the Committee of Science and at the time the weakening of Soviet-Mongolian scientific links. 

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