The man who built the Soviet table, and the negotiator “from Ilyich to Ilyich”
November 6, 1942, Red Square. A deserter fired three shots at Mikoyan's car from Lobnoye Mesto, mistaking it for Stalin's. Mikoyan walked away without a scratch.
For half a century the master craftsman of how the USSR ate and traded. As Commissar of the Food Industry he spent two months touring American plants in 1936 and came home to transplant canning, sausage-making, frozen food and mass-produced ice cream (a cutlet still bears his name) then ran foreign trade and consumer supply for decades. In politics he stood almost alone against the second intervention in Hungary in 1956, and spent three weeks in Havana talking Castro through the aftermath of the missile crisis. He passed through the top leadership “from Ilyich to Ilyich” (Lenin to Brezhnev) and was one of the few grandees permitted to retire.
Career Timeline
- 1926–30Commissar of Trade, the youngest commissar, in his thirties
- 1934–38Food Industry Commissar: the 1936 US tour; canning, frozen food, mass ice cream
- 1938–49Foreign Trade Commissar; runs wartime Lend-Lease intake
- 1953–64Deputy premier for trade and consumer goods; backs the thaw
- 1956/1962Opposes the Hungary intervention; talks Castro down in Havana
- 1964–65Titular head of state; then retirement
Related historical events
- 1921–1928The New Economic Policy (NEP)as People's Commissar for Domestic and Foreign Trade from 1926, implemented NEP trade policies
- 1928–1937The Five-Year Plans and the Soviet TransformationSupply commissarAs the commissar responsible for supply and the food industry, he ran procurement, rationing, and the building of food-processing industries.
- 1941–1945The Great Patriotic WarSupply chiefHe oversaw the food, fuel, and clothing supply of the Red Army and the reception of Allied aid deliveries.
- 1953The Fall of BeriaPresidium memberCautious at first, he ultimately joined the removal.
- 1956.02The Twentieth Party Congress and the Secret SpeechThe first criticism, in open sessionHe criticized the Stalin period in open session before the secret speech, opening the way.
- 1956The Hungarian RevolutionSent to BudapestSent to Budapest with Suslov, he helped manage the crisis on the spot.
- 1957The Anti-Party GroupKhrushchev allyOne of the few in the Presidium who backed Khrushchev.
- 1962The Cuban Missile CrisisPersuading CastroAfter the withdrawal deal, he flew to Cuba and spent weeks persuading a furious Castro.
The 1936 American tour — how one trip changed the Soviet table
In the summer of 1936, Anastas Mikoyan toured the United States for two months. As People's Commissar for Food Industry, he scoured canning plants, frozen food lines, vending machines, and hamburger production from New York to Chicago to Detroit. He brought back mass ice-cream production technology and frozen patty methods to the USSR.
The trip introduced to Soviet life: ice-cream factories, the Soviet version of Coca-Cola, hamburgers (then called 'Mikoyan cutlets'), and frozen foods. Mikoyan revolutionised the Soviet table, by learning from capitalist consumer culture.
Mikoyan's political survival is legendary. From Lenin to Brezhnev, he outlasted everyone. He was Stalin's close confidant, yet opposed the 1956 Hungarian crackdown and served as Khrushchev's backchannel to Kennedy during the Cuban Missile Crisis. His secret: adaptability, and a pragmatism that always produced what was needed.