The telecommunication revolution in the USSR is creating structural change in the culture, encompassing media, societal, and ideological systems. In the process, it is replacing traditional Soviet collectivist values with individualist, western values. Increasingly easy access to western ideas through VCRs, direct broadcast satellites (DBS), and home computers has led the Communist Party to restrict access to all but Soviet ideas through these media, although not entirely successfully. On the black market, Japanese VCRs and western films outsell the poorly made Soviet VCRs and limited selection of tapes. Estonians are also able to receive Finnish broadcasts of American television programs, which the Soviets have attempted to control with "prior consent" agreements with the West concerning satellite broadcasts. The most pressing problem, however, lies with the Soviets' need for computer literate citizens who will not undermine propaganda and information control by connecting with non-Soviets through telephone-linked computer systems. Kenneth Burke's "pentad" model illustrates how the communication technologies can act as a change agent upon the Soviet media system and larger society, with the "agent" being the Soviet government, Soviet society the "scene," and the desire to compete with western technology the "purpose." Whether the new technology can be kept under control is a pressing question for Soviet leaders, a problem which could, conceivably, cause another October revolution. (Thirty-six references and a diagram of Burke's "pentad" model are included.) (JC)