Archívum - A Heves Megyei Levéltár közleményei 19. (Eger, 2010)

TANULMÁNYOK, KÖZLEMÉNYEK - Kárbin Ákos: Lukács László „főfinánc” Eger város „szabottelvű” követe 1896-ban • 137

Ákos Kárbin: László Lukács "chief excise officer", conservative envoy of the town of Eger in 1896

In 1896 the Liberal party won a landslide victory in the general elections. Previously it was back in 1875 that this party could win a similar victory. In 1896 the same thing happened in the town of Eger too. In those days Eger was the the heart of the opposition and the center of the independence movement. During the ten year period preceding the 1896 elections a major natural catastrophe devastated the vineyards surrounding Eger. Due to the ravage caused by the phylloxera pandemic the vine-growers and winemakers of the town went almost completely bankrupt. Wine producing and the accompanying industries were in a state of stagnation. The previous opposition policy failed because it had not been able to help recover Eger and the neighboring settlements from the deep economic recession. The leaders of the town probably cast an account of the previous opposition policy and its failure. They were confident that governing party would win the 1896 elections. Two political groups stepped up as potential opponents, Nándor Szederkényi fonner opposition MP on the one side and László Lukács finance minister on the other. The Liberal Party had great faith in the political and business influence of the finance minister and visualized a real economic revival as a result of the policy change.

This study aims at analyzing the events of September and October of 1896, the pre-election period and the elections from the perspective of both the governing party and the opposition. It also attempts to find out the considerations of the political groups of Eger with their business interests on mind.

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