This paper describes the administrative set-up and orientation of psychiatry in the Soviet Union. Of course, all of medicine including psychiatry is socialized and services are available at no direct cost. There is, however, a system of priorities in which those members of the population who perform the most important functions are apparently provided with earlier and better treatment. The core of Soviet psychiatric services is the outpatient clinic which strives to maintain the psychiatric patient within the community. The mental hospital provides active treatment for short periods rather than custodial services. Chronic patients with residual work capacity are sent to work colonies where they engage in simple tasks. The disinclination to hospitalize patients and emphasis on maintenance in the community was observed to agree with the thinking of Western workers in mental health.