The Patriotic Guards were formed in 1968, after the 21 August Bucharest speech through which Romanian Communist Party General Secretary and State Council President Nicolae Ceaușescu condemned the suppression of the Prague Spring by Soviet and Warsaw Pact forces. Ceaușescu appealed to anti-Sovietism within the general population to ask for resistance against the perceived threat of a similar Soviet invasion against Romania itself. The nationalist themes he used had their immediate effect in rallying large portions of the public, who began organizing and arming themselves under the direction of the Romanian Communist Party (PCR).