The state of the art of bilingual education in the Soviet Union is surveyed. The social context of Soviet bilingualism is discussed with reference to sources of heterogeneity, modernization as a motivating factor, political dimensions, and Soviet bases of research. The sociolinguistic paradigm of Soviet society is viewed as a function of the need to develop literacy, a need which is intimately tied to the status of Russian as the dominant language. The ethnological issues encompass the diverse ethnicity of the Soviet Union, aspects of demography, urbanization, and inter-ethnic marriages. The ideologically colored assumptions regarding language acquisition processes are set forth. These have implications for the development of a Soviet theory for language pedagogy, for the use of the native language in learning second languages, and for a psychology of language acquisition and bilingualism. Various types of programs for bilingual education and Russian as a second language are described. A bibliography and a variety of statistical tables are appended. (JB)