ABSTRACT
This chapter describes the emergence of Uzbek nationalism in the period beginning with Joseph V. Stalin's death in 1953 and ending with the accession of Mikhail Gorbachev in 1985. In Uzbekistan, Faizulla Khojaev and Akmal Ikramov became "scions of the Uzbek people" once more, and were given the rare distinction of having their "selected works" published. A poem, "Thou, Uzbekistan", which appeared on the front page of an Uzbek-language newspaper for January 1,1970, was featured more prominently than New Year's greetings from party and state organs in Moscow. As part of Moscow's policy of using the Muslim republics as a showcase of Asian communism, visits by foreign delegations, especially from the Middle East and other Third World nations, were a regular feature of life in such cities as Tashkent and Baku. The idea of the distinctiveness of Central Asian communism began to compete with "proletarian internationalism" as a theme.
