The characters combine to mean “Red Guard-Soldiers,” perfectly capturing their identity as a civilian youth militia dedicated to protecting and enforcing Mao's communist revolution.
The term 红卫兵 is inseparable from the Cultural Revolution (文化大革命), one of the most tumultuous periods in modern Chinese history. They were the primary instrument through which Mao Zedong reasserted absolute control over the country. Their mission was to eradicate the “Four Olds” (四旧; sì jiù): Old Customs, Old Culture, Old Habits, and Old Ideas. This led to the widespread destruction of priceless historical artifacts, temples, books, and art. They targeted anyone deemed a “class enemy,” which included intellectuals, teachers, former landlords, and even high-ranking party officials who had fallen out of favor with Mao. Their methods were often brutal, including public humiliation rituals known as “struggle sessions” (批斗会). A useful Western comparison is not to a typical youth movement but to its inverse. Whereas Western counter-culture movements of the 1960s were typically anti-establishment and grassroots, the Red Guards were a state-endorsed movement directed by the ultimate establishment figure (Mao) to attack other parts of the establishment and society itself. Their power came from the top down, not the bottom up. The phenomenon demonstrates the immense power of a cult of personality and how revolutionary idealism in youth can be manipulated into a destructive force. The movement eventually devolved into violent factional infighting, forcing Mao to use the official military (the PLA) to suppress them and send them to the countryside.
In contemporary China, 红卫兵 is a historically significant term with an overwhelmingly negative connotation. It is never used in a positive or aspirational way.