 In February 1956, following 20th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, the Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev delivered the Secret Speech, titled "On the Personality Cult and its Consequences", causing wide implications for the Soviet Union and other Communist countries as well.In Poland, in addition to criticism of the cult of personality, popular topics of debate centered on the right to steer a more independent course of "local, national socialism" instead of following the Soviet model in every detail.For example, many members of the Polish United Workers' Party (PZPR) criticized Stalin's execution of older Polish Communists during the Great Purge.