Capitalism makes the modern world spin - so why are there people out there who call themselves Maoists? Surely the agrarian-based revolutionary ideas of Mao Zedong are not applicable to the 21st century?
The devout - but diminishing number - of followers engaged in struggles with a singular aim of overthrowing governments do not agree. Through armed conflict or ideological debate, they are pushing for the right moment for the popular uprising that seizes power.
While Mao is seen by China's leaders as the modern nation's father, the principles of his revolution have been swallowed up by capitalism. The predominance of Mao buttons and pins does indicate, though, a deeper attachment. Who could live through the Cultural Revolution and then completely turn their backs on those years?
The thinking is rather more grassroots among rebels in Nepal, the Philippines and the Indian states of Bihar and Uttar Pradesh. From their poverty-ridden strongholds, they follow Mao's teachings to the letter in the hope of wealth redistribution and political upheaval.
The bloodiest of these conflicts, in Nepal, has claimed more than 7,500 lives since it began in 1996. Nepal's King Gyanendra - the ultimate target of the anti-monarchy rebels - is well aware that Peru's Shining Path Maoists inflicted a toll six times higher before their struggle was effectively brought to an end in 2001.
The Philippine government is still hunting for a way to suppress the 9,000 fighters of the New People's Army, the military wing of the Communist Party of the Philippines.
Such insurgencies seem far from the New York City office of Clark Kissinger, a radical activist and journalist who calls himself a revolutionary Maoist. He said such struggles were ideologically identical to his own desire for a classless society, although the context was vastly different.
The road to revolution and social change was quite different in Third World countries, where the conditions for launching an armed struggle frequently existed. 'But in a modern, industrialised country, you can't do that,' he said. 'You have to wait for particular circumstances to arise. There actually has to be a major crisis in society.' Mr Kissinger, 62, was the organiser in 1965 of the first anti-Vietnam War march in Washington. Six years later, he helped found the United States-China People's Friendship Association and visited China in 1972 and 1975 to experience Mao's revolution.
But he is on the extreme fringes of the American political spectrum. Most Maoists in the developed world have folded their caps and laid their ideology to rest. There is a Maoist party in the United States and it publishes a weekly newspaper called the Revolutionary Worker. But when asked about the strength of the movement, Mr Kissigner quotes Malcolm X: 'Those who know don't tell and those who tell don't know.'
The core of Maoism lies in Marxist-Leninism. Political scientist Richard Dagger said Mao had used these principles and applied them to a predominantly agricultural society.
'It's an attempt to take this theory that says you get socialism by way of revolution,' Mr Dagger said. 'Revolution must be led by a vanguard party that organises and begins in the countryside working with a rural proletariat rather than industrial workers. It proceeds to take over the countryside and then strangles the urban centres until you have a conquest.'
The ideology can easily be applied to impoverished Nepal. But why are there such thoughts in countries such as Finland and the US? Mr Dagger said: 'If someone sees himself as a rebel against authority who is fighting on behalf of the poor and oppressed, then that person might think that's enough to justify the label of Mao.'
Of course, the world has also moved on since Mao. His views, and those of Marx and Lenin, are shared by a dwindling number of people. The revolutions taking place in Mao's name in Asia may well be the last.
Peter Kammerer is the Post's Foreign Editor
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