Photos of Mao and Zhou can be found in lots of Chinese shops, taxis, and, presumably, homes. Regardless of appearances, they don’t really suggest that the owners want to relive the Cultural Revolution; they are a sort of safe space to make a mild comment on inequality and corruption.
But could a Maoist left populism actually make a comeback in today’s China? The story of Bo Xilai is instructive on this point.
Bo was the boss of Chongqing. Although very corrupt himself, he made a national reputation for himself as a swaggering crime fighter and enemy of big business. He also spent lots of public money in visible ways and took the credit for it. He was on the verge of making it into the Politburo when the leadership, aided by some very strange events in Chongqing, started to see him (from their perspective, correctly) as a menace and crushed him.
There clearly is an audience for left-wing populism in China. A new leader with some of Bo’s swagger and far more discretion would have some chance of overcoming the CCP’s skepticism and winning power.