This world studies elective quinmester course for grades seven through nine focuses on the national life style of Russia, emphasizing its varied cultural background, and, through an analysis of cultural characteristics, examining the influence a totalitarian government has on the nation's institutions. The student will: 1) evaluate the environment including the physical features of location, typography, climate, river systems, and vegetation influencing Russia's life style; 2) explain the Communist Party as the center of all authority; 3) identify and analyze the life-styles that are influenced by the totalitarian state in various geographic regions of the Soviet Union comparing and evaluating education, the family, economy, communication, art, dance, music and literature; and, 4) investigate the extraordinary change and variety of culture within rural and urban settings of the Soviet Union with an emphasis on the number of different ethnic or minority nationalities and their language differences. Related documents are: SO 002 708 through SO 002 718, SO 002 768 through SO 002 792, and SO 002 949 through SO 002 970. (Author/SJM)