The collection of documents is devoted to one of the most important events in the political history of the XX century - the report of N.S. Khrushchev "On the cult of personality and its consequences," made at a closed meeting of the XX Congress of the CPSU on February 25, 1956. This is the first scientific publication of all versions and editions of the report. The book also publishes a large complex of declassified archival documents on the preparation of the XX Congress and the report of N.S. Khrushchev, on discussions in the Presidium of the Central Committee of the CPSU on the role of I.V. Stalin in Russian history and repressions of the 1930s, documents on contradictory attempts to de-Stalinize in the country, reactions to the decisions of the congress and the "secret" report of N.S. Khrushchev in the country and abroad.