Századok – 2006

TANULMÁNYOK - Takács Tibor: A városi elit Nyíregyházán a 20. század első felében 25

A VÁROSI ELIT NYÍREGYHÁZÁN A 20. SZÁZAD ELSŐ FELÉBEN 77 session could be established, but in the case of a matter regarding any of the religious confessions the activity of the representatives concerned increased. At Nyíregyháza the number of general municipal assemblies decreased continuously: whereas in 1900 as many as 35 assemblies were held, in the 1940s their annual number fell to 8: Yet the number of decisions enacted grew constantly. This means that the work of the municipal assemblies went through an important transformation; the discussion of the ever longer agenda and the voting of the ensuing decisions required more and more concentration on the part of the representatives. The individual propositions, interpellations and debates, still frequent at the beginning of the century, gradually disappeared, and the assembly was transformed into a mere voting machine. This process was reflected in the results of the assembly votings, for the number of cases when the representatives voted against or modified the proposal made by the council or the mayor decreased constantly. Consequently, the role of the members of the special departments and of the municipal officials in the process of decision making became increasingly dominant. Although the competence of the departments was originally confined to a preparatory disussion, with the transformation of the assembly into a voting machine the decisions made during the combined sessions of the departments practically became municipal decrees. An analysis of the activity of the departments also showed that the influence of the municipal officials increased in the work not only of the assemblies but also in that of the departments and thus in governing the municipality itself. The increasing role of the municipal officials cannot be separated from the general process of bureaucratisation and of the growing importance of administration. The constantly increasing burden of self-government as well as the needs of modern administration gradually increased the competence and thus the role of the municipal officials. The growth of their autonomy was given more impetus by the fact that they became existentially independent from the local body of representatives. Thus the importance of the local bureaucracy gradually grew to the detriment of the elected representatives, but at the same time it became increasingly exposed to the demands of the central government. These tendencies resulted first in the restriction of local self-government and later in its almost complete suppression.