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MOSCOW (AP) -- Fighting to remain Russia's largest political bloc, the Communist Party on Saturday made public an election platform advocating greater state control of the economy and renationalization of key sectors.
The Communists promised to prosecute and jail those it said had plundered the economy and to recover state assets sold off under the country's current efforts to build a market economy. Businessmen and officials who have grown rich by looting state assets would be jailed.
``Building a fair society has always been (our) goal and remains as such. There will be no poor or hungry people and thieves and swindlers will be put in prison,'' Communist leader Gennady Zyuganov told a special congress.
The party's platform for December elections for the State Duma, the lower house of Parliament, also calls for the reunification of Russia, Belarus and Ukraine, which became independent when the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991.
The Communists are the largest bloc in the Duma and have been the main opposition to President Boris Yeltsin with their bitter attacks on market economics and their calls for a return to the Soviet system.
But the Communists are facing a major electoral challenge because of a reshaping of the political landscape in recent months. Several new centrist electoral alliances are expected to do well and could dominate the Duma.
A new alliance led by Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov and former Prime Minister Yevgeny Primakov threatens to overtake the Communists as the largest parliamentary faction, according to recent opinion polls.
While calling for a return to state economic control and subsidies, Zyuganov was vague on how the Communists would rescue Russia from years of economic decline. He called for a national spiritual revival, saying that resurrecting Russia's intellectual potential would revive the economy.
The vague economic plan highlights the Communists' dilemma. They insist that the Soviet system remains Russia's best hope, even though it collapsed years ago.
Zyuganov denied the Communists would restore authoritarian rule, saying the party did not favor emergency rule that would suspend constitutional rights.
The Communist leader, who was defeated by Yeltsin in the second round of 1996 presidential elections, criticized the president's frequent dismissals of prime ministers and Cabinets.
``The crazy game of reshuffling personnel, which has become a laughing stock for the entire world, will be put to a stop,'' Zyuganov said.
He also called for the beleaguered military to be restored to its former glory, saying the Communists would again make it ``a favorite of the people.''