Ságvári Ágnes (szerk.): Budapest. The History of a Capital (Budapest, 1975)
From City to Metropolis (1849-1919)
and 1871 large-scale strikes were organized, and demonstrations took place in the streets of the city, the workers celebrating the heroes of the Paris Commune. Even though the proceedings brought by the Government against the leaders of the Workers’ Association failed, they succeeded in preventing the Association from developing into a genuine political party: the party in the process of formation was at once suppressed by the Government, and the working classes left without a political organization or representation for years to come. Growth of the Metropolis At the time of the merger, Budapest was undoubtedly already the most important traffic junction in Hungary, and this was certainly one of the reasons that it had become the largest commodity market, banking centre and source of manpower in the country. Budapest was the most populous industrial town in Hungary, and enjoyed the most extensive urban facilities. Hungarian economy had needed independence in order to expand and this need had played an important part in the Compromise; and because of the function of the city as a central focus point this need found its strongest expression in Budapest; it was here that bourgeois development progressed most rapidly. In the odd half century between 1873 and the end of the First World War Budapest played an increasingly important part in the affairs not only of Hungary, but to a certain extent of the whole of South-East Europe as well. By the end of the century the capitalist evolution that had made Budapest into an economic centre had come to full flower : and to this had now been added the political and administrative functions of a capital in the country which had regained its administrative independence within the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy. The countryfolk streaming into Budapest in ever increasing numbers were absorbed in the structure of a modern bourgeois society. The expansion of the city, and the construction of new urban areas continued. The buildings were of different styles and quality, corresponding to the requirements of the population differentiated basically by class, but it was already endowed with a consolidated and expanding system of public utilities and held together by a growing transport network. The responsibilities and powers of the municipality increased, and with them its organization and staff. The growing metropolis naturally became the centre of both intellectual and scientific life in Hungary, and of the press and publishing in general. Through them it enjoyed a unique opportunity of influencing public opinion throughout the country, at the same time creating its own peculiarly urban culture. But progress was neither unbroken nor free of conflict: by the end of the century, simultaneously with the appearance of some of the qualities of that characteristic feature of capitalist development, imperialism, political and cultural crises became manifest, producing insoluble social tensions and contradictions. Their appearance was presaged by the first ventures of the metropolitan labour movement as early as 1870 or thereabouts. In the period between 1873 and the end of the First World War, the expansion of the railways and their deliberate convergence on Budapest as a matter of government policy further increased the importance of the city, both in the growing internal market and in trade with Central Europe and the Balkans. Enormous modern warehouses were built to 39
