Reba Schell, age 14, of Springfield, Ill., for her question:

WHAT EXACTLY IS A COMMUNE?

Commune is a word used to designate rural collective units, such as the collective farms of the Soviet Union. In China the commune is the basic political and economic division of the country, and the general population lives and works in these collective communities.

In Israel the terms applies to the voluntary collective agricultural communities known as kibbutzim, which are administered by elected officials.

In the United States, some small agricultural communes are scattered around the country, generally formed by groups of young people seeking a new life style away from the industrialized urban centers.

In medieval times, a commune was a body of townspeople that held a charter from a feudal overlord or sovereign granting them certain privileges of self government. Medieval communes existed in France, England, Italy, Spain and other countries.

In modern times the term is applied chiefly to the smallest administrative division of France, the unit of local self government. The chief officer of the commune is the mayor, who is the agent of the central government. Communes similar to those of France also exist today in Italy, Belgium and several other European countries.