Ságvári Ágnes (szerk.): Budapest. The History of a Capital (Budapest, 1975)
Budapest in the First Twenty Years of the Council System (1950-1970)
bility for primary schooling, and the nationalization of theatres and cinemas extended the powers of the municipality still further. In this crucial year it became clear that the fact of Greater Budapest had to be recognized legally and administratively as well. The merger was preceded by exhaustive preparations, in which representatives of the outlying suburbs took part. The boundaries of Greater Budapest had to be decided, as well as the number of districts, etc. Almost simultaneously with the merger, a reorganization of the whole administration was carried out, and the staff strengthened with new officials faithful to the people’s regime. Act XXVI of 1949 finally united seven towns and sixteen villages with the capital city; from 1st January 1950 the area of Budapest was increased from 206 square kilometers to 525 square kilometers and the number of its inhabitants from 1,057,912 to 1,640,000. The new, unified, Greater Budapest consisted of twenty-two districts instead of the former fourteen. The process of unification was crowned by the introduction of the council system, which expressed and embodied the victory of the socialist revolution in the vast, new capital of Hungary. Budapest in the First Twenty Years of the Council System (1950-1970) (Selection of documents covering the period: XXXI-XXXVI) Development of the Council System The year 1950 opened up a new period in the life of Budapest. The area and population of the city had increased through the administrative merger, and for many years this dictated the tasks to be fulfilled in the development of what was formerly Budapest and the dormitory and industrial suburbs into a unified modern metropolis. Although the reconstruction of the capital was not yet complete, the success of the first national Three-Year Plan—1947-49—opened up new prospects. The work before the municipality was facilitated by the fact that by the end of 1949 most factories and the wholesale trade had to all intents and purposes been nationalized, and on 1st January 1950 the first national Five- Year Plan was begun. This nation-wide revolutionary transformation set in motion a number of fundamental social, political and ideological changes in the life of the city as well. The foundations of the new state order were outlined in the Constitution adopted in 1949, under which the council system came into force by the Local Councils Act I of 1950. Its operation began in the capital in June 1950 with the function of the Budapest Council, with the same status as county councils. On the 22nd of October the inhabitants of Budapest elected 251 members of the City Council. The Council, as an organ of the State, from the first enjoyed greater power than the municipal administration of the Horthy regime: representatives of classes and groups formerly disenfranchised took part in the work of district councils, and the number of municipal enterprises covering supplies was increased considerably. 66
