This document presents a conceptual framework for lifelong education in the USSR that is based on interfacing education on the one hand and the scientific and technological revolution on the other to create a system of lifelong education encompassing basic in-school and other less structured, nonformal programs. The impact of the increasing intellectualization of workers' tasks and the increased knowledge and skill demands that scientific advances have placed on workers are discussed. The development of the Soviet recognition of the need for lifelong education is traced from the USSR's early postrevolutionary period to the present. The principles of purposefulness in education and training, individualization in education, lifelongness, and a systems approach are examined from the Soviet perspective. The role of lifelong education in facilitating workers' physical and spiritual development, raising their sociopolitical awareness, and increasing their vocational qualifications is discussed. A two-tiered model for lifelong education in the Soviet Union, consisting of basic (elementary, secondary, and postsecondary) and supplementary education programs is proposed. The supplemental education portion of the model would feature flexible, nonformal programs that would simultaneously fulfill information-consultation, teaching, and organization-supervision functions. (MN)