The road from Ilich to Ilich: The life and times of Anastas Ivanovich Mikoian

An overview of the life and work of the Soviet politician Anastas Mikoian ( 1895-1978) based on his recently published memoirs, this essay draws attent ion to the additional knowledge about Soviet politics that can be found in these memoirs. This includes the name of Vladimir Lenin's candidate to succ eed Iosif Stalin as general secretary (Ian Rudzutak), the workings of the P olitburo from 1937 to 1953, and details concerning the planned evacuation o f Moscow in October 1941. In addition, there is information about the circu mstances surrounding the creation of the Pospelov committee in 1955, the fa ilure of the CPSU in 1956 to rehabilitate the victims of the open trials of Old Bolsheviks in 1936-1938, and the attempt by Aleksandr Shelepin to repl ace Leonid Brezhnev in 1967. Memoirs are an imperfect source, and their ass ertions must be checked against other sources. Overall Ellman concludes tha t the verdict on Mikoian's life "can only be a shade of grey."