Public safety in the activities of the municipal authorities of the Southern Urals in 1870-1919

Abstract

The article is devoted to the issues of public safety in the practical activities of the city dumas and temporary committees of public organizations. In 1870-1919, the activities of the city self-government bodies were reduced to the introduction of the apartment tax in order to take into account the citizens tenants of apartments, to ensure supervision of all citizens to prevent the spread of the revolutionary movement, especially after 1905. The formation of city dumas is associated with the constant supervision and patronage of this process by the ministry of internal affairs. Normative acts regulating the formation and functioning of self-government bodies in cities were drawn up and issued by the ministry of internal affairs. The city regulations of 1870 and 1892 clearly defined the composition of voters, the powers of the mayor and his comrades, the functions of city councils. The city duma was called upon to become a pillar of state power on the ground along with the governor's office. However, as a result, instead, the municipal governments became oppositional to the governor's power. The entire period of its existence, the city duma was in constant confrontation with the administrations of governors. The content of the practical activities of municipal governments in the cities reflected the everyday problems of citizens: housing, maintenance, road construction, sanitation and health, public education and culture, public safety. The provisional committees of public organizations formed after February 1917 were to become transitional bodies of self-government: from pre-revolutionary city dumas to post-revolutionary ones. Their main task was to organize local elections to the new duma. However, their practical activities were fully focused on public security.