Today in the world, societies which claim to be 'socialist' or in the process of 'revolutionary transformation' comprise approximately 'one-thirds of the earth's surface'(Wohlforth 1981:68). This major difference in material reality at the present time from that of Marx and Engels, or even Lenin's time, affords us the possibility of using the very methodology developed by them historical and dialectical materialism to analyse this process. Relatively little was written by Marx and Engels on this subject and what was written was based on their experiences in early capitalist or even feudal society, combined with a vision of a classless yet economically viable society.