Lenin became a household name in Australia soon after the October Revolution took Russia out of the First World War and proclaimed the necessity for international workers' revolution.

For Australian socialists, grappling with Lenin and his arguments, particularly his seminal works like The State and Revolution and Left-Wing Communism, were foundational for the establishment of the Communist Party of Australia. Lenin's perspectives on how a revolution could take place, drawing on the experience of Russia, as well as how it could win, from the experience of the Bolsheviks, framed a new way for socialists to organise as revolutionaries and against reformism.

This session will examine the influence Lenin has had over Australian socialism since 1917.