The famous city reform of Alexander II was carried out in 1870. It became part of the fundamental transformations in Russian society that occurred after the defeat in the Crimean War. Up to this point, cities have suffered from excessive administrative custody of officials. The reform gave them freedom in managing the economy, the economy, security, etc.
Background
Preparation of a draft reform of urban governance began in 1862. According to the circular of the Minister of Internal Affairs Pyotr Valuev, the establishment of local commissions began, which discussed the need for reforms.
These temporary bodies worked for three years. Urban reform continued when, in 1864, the commissions prepared a general project, which was to apply to all cities of the empire. The next step was the consideration of this document by the State Council. However, on April 4, 1866, Karakozov’s attempt was made on the life of Alexander II. The failed terrorist attack brought confusion to the minds of officials. The project stalled.
Project Acceptance
After a long pause, the Council of State finally returned to the draft reform. The next commission concluded that introducing omnibus suffrage is too dangerous. Long disputes ended with the adoption of a system copied from Prussia. In this German kingdom, there were three curiae, which were composed of taxpayers, divided into classes according to their contributions to the budget.
The same system was adopted in Russia. The urban reform of 1870 ultimately boiled down to the following. The local Duma was elected by residents divided by curia. In the first of them there were only a few dozen of the richest citizens who paid the most taxes. Thus, a dozen prosperous residents received a representation equal to the representation of the middle class and a huge mass of low-income people (they could be in the hundreds and thousands). In this sense, the urban reform of Alexander 2 remained quite conservative. She introduced the principles of democracy in self-regulation, but the thought was still drawn up based on the social inequality of the inhabitants.
City authorities
According to the adopted regulation, the city reform of Alexander 2 introduced city public administrations (the Duma, the electoral assembly and the city government). They were in charge of economic life, organized beautification, monitored fire safety, provided the population with food, arranged credit institutions, exchanges and marinas.
The city reform of 1870 established electoral assemblies, the main function of which was to elect vowels to the Duma. Their term of office was 4 years. According to the new rules, every citizen who had voting rights could become a member of the Duma. There were exceptions to this rule. For example, the number of non-Christians in the Duma should not exceed one third of the vowels (i.e., deputies). Also, Jews could not occupy the chair of the mayor. Thus, mainly election restrictions were confessional.
Powers of the Duma
Fundamental urban reform, the essence of which was the granting of self-government to cities, was reduced to the redistribution of powers of power institutions. Prior to that, all orders were made from a centralized authority and one bureaucracy. Such management was characterized by extreme inefficiency and stagnation.
Urban reform led to the fact that the Duma received the authority to appoint different officials. She also now regulated the establishment, reduction and increase of taxes. At the same time, the costs of maintaining this representative body were the responsibility of the governor. Meetings were appointed at the request of at least a fifth of the vowels. In addition, the mayor could convene the mayor or the governor. These self-government bodies appeared in 509 cities.
Other reform features
Among other things, the Duma determined the composition of the city government. This body, in turn, was in charge of compiling estimates, collecting information for vowels, collecting and spending fees from the population. The government reported to the Duma, but at the same time had the right to declare the decisions of the representative body illegal. In the event of a conflict between the two institutions of power, the governor intervened in the situation.
Duma voters could not be tried or under investigation. Introduced age qualification (25 years). Demotion was awaiting dismissed government officials. Also, citizens who had arrears in the collection of taxes lost their votes. Preliminary voter lists according to the Curia division were compiled by the Duma. The mayor was appointed from among the vowels. This choice was made by the governor.
Value
The most important urban reform led to the start of an unprecedented industrial and commercial development of cities. This was due to the fact that in the provinces the mechanisms of a market economy were in full swing. Now the city could decide for itself what and how to spend its money on. Such self-government was many times more effective than the previous bone administrative model.
Finally, the city reform of Alexander Nikolaevich allowed the inhabitants of the country to find out what civic activity is. Prior to this, the townspeople had no levers to control their home. Thanks to the ongoing transformations, the situation has radically changed. The growth of civic consciousness has become the basis for the emergence of a new domestic political culture.