“Guarantee against non-participation”: Simbirsk project of the organization of city administration in the beginning of the XX century

In the article considers the order of formation and activity of city government bodies in the post-reform period. They have become the most important motivators for the legislative activity of members of the local representative government. Based on archival documents, the author recreates the picture of the formation of local government bodies in the XIX — early XX centuries in the Simbirsk province. The article analyzes in detail the project of transformation of the city administration, developed at the beginning of the XX century within the walls of the Simbirsk City Duma. The reformist project demonstrated the democratic views of representatives of local self-government bodies. The research is based on the results of a comprehensive study of both the normative legal acts of the prerevolutionary period, and the materials of the State Archive of the Ulyanovsk region. The author notes the deep crisis that arose as a result of the harsh autocratic policy and the progressiveness of the Simbirsk project for its time.