Stalin was unknown in Australia until the mid 1920s, yet would rise from total obscurity to hero worship as the great leader of the only "socialist" state for many Australian socialists, particularly after the global depression began in 1929.

Stalin's murderous counter-revolution in Russia was defended by Australian Communists, and the various twists and turns Stalin insisted on for the Communist International loyally adhered to, over time transforming the Communist Party of Australia into an outfit committed to class collaboration and even imperialism. When Stalin's own crimes became too much to ignore a few years after his death, the monolith of Stalinism was shattered and Australian socialists left to pick up the pieces.

This session will look at how Stalin's dictatorship in Russia enabled him to corrupt the Australian communist movement and how his pernicious influence continues to scar socialism into the present.