This essay by G.V.S. De Silva published for the first time in The Alternatives: socialism or Barbarism by Social Scientist Association in 1988 is republished in this space considering its relevance for the contemporary society in crisis.
 In this essay "...he looked at and re-examined the experiences of the Soviet Union, East Europe and China and the characteristics of social change in these countries; he also re-thought the concepts of accumulatives as well as of forces and relations of production. All this led him to advance a theory of social change based on multi-linear model which he believed applicable to the world of today..." excerpt from The Alternatives: socialism or Barbarism Page -239.