Main changes in time utilization by rural population of the U.S.S.R. resulting from the socialist reconstruction of agriculture and rural social development were analyzed. Time expenditures of ruralites on different activities in the 1960s and 1970s were compared to those in the 1920s and 1930s. The following indicators were analyzed: (1) total work load on a rural inhabitant, dynamics in work load differentiation among men and women, work distribution between public sector, private economy and housework, seasonal character of the rural people's work load; (2) amount of free time and its dynamics; and (3) free time structure of rural people in comparison to urbanites. The instrument and data source was the time budget. It was found that the reduction of overall work load of the rural worker was going on concurrently with the increase of work expenditures in the public production sphere. The process of redistribution of a part of the work load from women to men had not so far led to their levelling off in work duration. To date rural-urban differentiation by amount of free time and work load persisted. Taking into consideration work expenditures in private economy and housekeeping, the rural worker worked on the average of 1 to 1.5 hours more a day than the urban worker. It was concluded that there was a necessity to secure an integrated character in time budget studies in order to obtain a complete picture of factors determining differences in time utilization. (Author/NQ)