Red Guards vs. Communist Party

The Communist Party and Red Guards not only had different tactics to reform China, but also different intentions as well. Though the communist party did kill "wicked landlords", their intent was not for violence with the traditional population, but instead to convert such people to believing in communism. They did so by finding and exploiting the flaws in the former Chinese traditions and culuture. Killing the landlords was also intended to frighten the people into converting, making them believe that Communism was the more powerful party. However, the Red Guards' intentions were to cause ruckus and chaos. They caused destruction in people's houses and were loud and rampant through China. Their cause was not to convert people, but to punish those that identified with the previous ruling class, even just the civilians. Also, they wanted to draw attention to themselves which raises awareness for their cause through destruction and fear. Thus, both parties used fear as a mechanism to invoke change, but with different intentions and tactics.