The collection of documentary materials provides a detailed panorama of the national politics of the perestroika period (1985–1991), the circumstances and causes of the collapse of the Soviet Union. The collection contains excerpts from transcripts of speeches at congresses and plenums of the CPSU Central Committee, meetings of the Congresses of People's Deputies of the USSR, the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, materials reflecting the work of the Politburo of the CPSU Central Committee, state acts and party resolutions, recordings of telephone conversations, protocols of interrogations of members of the State Emergency Committee. Also included are excerpts from the memoirs of participants in the events. Most of the documents presented in the collection are published for the first time.