 During that time, the Red Guards participated in parades, mass meetings, and propagation and distribution of The Little Red Book.At this point, the politics initiated by Mao's government, along with the diminishing crops, had left the country in dire financial straits.Mao saw this as a prime opportunity to sow chaos and push the country towards the downfall of the old system, leaving a blank slate from which a reconstruction based on complete Communism would emerge.