Khorloogiin Choibalsan was a Mongolian revolutionary and politician who served as the leader of the Mongolian People's Republic as the chairman of the Council of Ministers (premier) from 1939 until his death in 1952. He was also the commander-in-chief of the Mongolian People's Army from 1937, and the chairman of the Presidium of the State Little Khural from 1929 to 1930. His rule was maintained by a repressive state and cult of personality. Choibalsan led a dictatorship and organized Stalinist purges in Mongolia between 1937 and 1939 as head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.