August 19 speech
The "August 19" speech refers to the speech delivered by Xi Jinping, General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party, at the National Conference on Publicity and Ideological Work on August 19, 2013.
Content
In his speech, Xi Jinping mentioned that "ideological work is an extremely important task of the Party", "consolidating the guiding role of Marxism", and "the propaganda and ideology departments must fulfill their responsibilities". Politburo Standing Committee member Liu Yunshan mentioned that "a small group of reactionary intellectuals use the Internet to spread rumors, attack and slander the Party's leadership, the socialist system and the state power. We must severely crack down on them."
Subsequent impact
After the "August 19" speech was published, local CCP party committee secretaries and propaganda ministers publicly expressed their positions and attitudes on the content of the speech. The CCP also immediately launched a campaign to regulate the Internet. On August 20, Xinhua News Agency broadcast the main points of the speech, launching a political campaign to study the speech across the country.