Communist uses
Red Guards refer to socialist or communist militia formed to instigate, support, or defend communist revolutions. Historically, they have consisted of armed workers as well as defectors, mutineers or decommissioned soldiers from the state's military.
- Red Guards (Finland), during the Finnish Civil War.
- Red Guards (Russia), during the Russian Revolution of 1917 and the Russian Civil War.
- Red Guards (Bavaria), in the Bavarian Soviet Republic.
- Red Guards (Hungary), in the Hungarian Soviet Republic (1918-1919)
- The Red Guards in China were composed largely of students and were formed under an already established state to advance the interests of one faction of the Communist Party of China against other factions, during the Cultural Revolution
- The Red Guard Party (United States) in America were a militant Chinese-American civil rights grouped closely modeled after the Black Panthers
Other uses
- The fictional Emperor's Royal Guard, elite Imperial corps of the Star Wars universe, are also sometimes referred as "Red Guards"
- The fictional race in the popular Elder Scrolls game series, see Redguard
- The Krathin Daeng or Red Guard was one of the more well known death squads active in Thailand in the 1970s
