In 1929, elections

Elections in the Soviet Union

The electoral system of the Soviet Union was based upon Chapter XI of the Constitution of the Soviet Union and by the Electoral Laws enacted in conformity with it. The Constitution and laws applied to elections in all Soviets, from the Supreme Soviets of the USSR, the Union republics and ...

 were held to the Congress of Soviets of the Soviet Union

Congress of Soviets of the Soviet Union

The All-Union Congress of Soviets, officially known as Congress of Soviets of the Soviet Union was the supreme governing body in the Soviet Union since the formation of the USSR and until adoption of the 1936 Soviet Constitution....

.

The elections were noteworthy for their rowdiness and elements of political opposition. Within the Communist Party

Communist Party of the Soviet Union

The Communist Party of the Soviet Union was the only legal, ruling political party in the Soviet Union and one of the largest communist organizations in the world...

, the Left Opposition

Left Opposition

The Left Opposition was a faction within the Bolshevik Party from 1923 to 1927, headed de facto by Leon Trotsky. The Left Opposition formed as part of the power struggle within the party leadership that began with the Soviet founder Vladimir Lenin's illness and intensified with his death in January...

 attempted to run rival candidates against the officially nominated Communist candidates, while outside the party the Russian Orthodox Church

Russian Orthodox Church

The Russian Orthodox Church or, alternatively, the Moscow Patriarchate The ROC is often said to be the largest of the Eastern Orthodox churches in the world; including all the autocephalous churches under its umbrella, its adherents number over 150 million worldwide—about half of the 300 million...

 attempted to create an organized opposition with religious candidates. Kulak

Kulak

Kulaks were a category of relatively affluent peasants in the later Russian Empire, Soviet Russia, and early Soviet Union...

s, Tolstoyan

Tolstoyan

The Tolstoyan movement is a social movement based on the philosophical and religious views of Russian novelist Leo Tolstoy . Tolstoy's views were formed by rigorous study of the ministry of Jesus, particularly the Sermon on the Mount....

s, and Baptist

Baptist

Baptists comprise a group of Christian denominations and churches that subscribe to a doctrine that baptism should be performed only for professing believers , and that it must be done by immersion...

s also were active in illicit anti-Communist electoral campaigning. Peasants demanded the creation of "peasant unions" on an equal footing with urban trade union

Trade union

A trade union, trades union or labor union is an organization of workers that have banded together to achieve common goals such as better working conditions. The trade union, through its leadership, bargains with the employer on behalf of union members and negotiates labour contracts with...

s, and urban workers complained that Communist officials had become a new privileged class. Ethnic strife and the Soviet government's financial support of Comintern

Comintern

The Communist International, abbreviated as Comintern, also known as the Third International, was an international communist organization initiated in Moscow during March 1919...

were also issues raised against the official candidates. Marches in opposition to the official candidates were held and in some areas in the provinces Communist officials were physically attacked.

However in the actual elections Communist authority was maintained and the opposition forces did not make any headway.