The purpose of this study is to describe the structures of and decision-making processes within the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) and government agencies concerned with education at all geopolitical levels, and to describe the dynamics of the interrelationships between the CPSU and the government. The study is based on data collected from documents published in the USSR and in the United States, and on information obtained from a series of interviews during 1962 with: members of the Communist Party, a member of the Central Committee of the CPSU, ministers of education, chairmen of city boards of education, inspectors of schools, and various administrators and faculty of institutes of higher education. Questions discuss patterns of decision making, policy change procedures, and the distribution and exercise of power and authority; questions for further study are delineated in a final section. The primary conclusion is that the decision-making power resides in the CPSU's Central Committee, operating through democratic centralism. Appendices provide selected readings, a glossary of Russian terms, and a list of ministries and committees that administer higher education. (Author/DJB)