ABSTRACT
This chapter highlights the role of the central state in identifying who is a son of the soil (SoS) and the failure of the Soviets to forge a new, encompassing SoS category. It describes these dynamics, pointing to the importance of the 1979 census in revealing how the ideal of the Soviet citizen failed to be realized. The 1979 census revealed in stark figures the changing nature of the demographic structure of the Soviet Union, in particular the low growth rate of the Slavic peoples in contrast to the rapid growth of the Muslim populations. The revolution in Iran, in the international context, thus provoked fear among Soviet planners that its own Muslims, particularly those in Central Asia, were even more of a threat. Of the Muslim nationalities, Uzbeks were the largest, with more than 12 million people in 1979, making them the third largest national group in the USSR after Russians and Ukrainians.
