(Rebel Lives) Nic Maclellan - Louise Michel-Ocean Press (2004) PDF

a lso published in the rebel lives series :
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Haydee Santamaria, edited by Betsy Maclean
Albert Einstein, edited by Jim Green
Sacco & Vanzetti, edited by John Davis
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Chris Hani, edited by Thenjiwe Mtintso
rebe I lives, a fresh new series of inexpensive, accessible and provoca

tive books unearthing the rebel histories of some familiar figures and
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rebel lives, selections of writings by and about remarkable women

and men whose radicalism has been concealed or forgotten. Edited and
introduced by activists and researchers around the world, the series
presents stirring accounts of race, class and gender rebellion
rebel lives does not seek to canonize its subjects as perfect political
models, visionaries or martyrs, but to make available the ideas and
stories of imperfect revolutionary human beings to a new generation of
readers and aspiring rebels

louise michel
edited by Nic Maclellan
l\1 Ocean Press

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reb�
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contents
- -
introduction: Biography of Louise Michel
tribute to Louise Michel from Victor Hugo 24
chapter one: Early Life
Louise Michel: Sources of rebellion 28

Louise Michel: Poem 31
Louise Michel: Letter to Victor Hugo 31
chapter two: Seizing the Guns
Louise Michel: Seizing the guns 34

Louise Michel: Open letter defending the seizing
of the guns at Montmartre 36

Bertolt Brecht: The Days of the Commune 37
chapter three: Paris Enraged
Friedrich Engels: History of the Commune 45

Louise Michel: Life during the Commune 51
Louise Michel: Letter t o the Mayor of Montmartre 57
Louise Michel: Letter t o the Editors o f La Sociale newspaper 5 8
chapter four: When the Women Decide They

Have Had Enough
Louise Michel: On women's rights 60

A call to the women citizens of Paris 62
Request for organizational assistance from the Commune 64
Elisabeth Dmitrieff: Letter to the Commune 66
chapter five: The First Dress Rehearsal in

World History
Karl Marx 70
Friedrich Engels 71
Mikhail Bakunin 73
William Morris 75
Peter Kropotkin 76
V.I. Lenin 78
HowardZinn 80
Paul Foot 82
Sheila Rowbotham 84
chapter six: liThe Internationale"
"The Internationale" 90
V.I. Lenin: The workers' anthem 92
chapter seven: Exile in New Caledonia
Louise Michel: Th e Kanaks were seeking the same liberty . . . 94

Louise Michel: Art for all! Bread for all! Science for all! 96
Louise Michel: Letter protesting removal from
Numbo camp 98
chapter eight: Authority Vested in One Person

is a Crime
Louise Michel: Statement to the military tribunal, 1871 1 00

Report of Louise Michel's trial for insulting police, 1882 1 02
Telegram to organizers of the Les Invalides protest 1 04
Louise Michel: Les Invalides Trial, 1883 1 05
Letter to the Comissioner of Police 1 07
chapter nine: Emma and Louise
Emma Goldman: There was spirit and youth in her eyes 1 09

Emma Goldman: Louise Michel was a complete woman 112
resources
Books in English 116

Books in French 116
On the Paris Commune 117
Websites and Film 117
introduction
I n France, Louise M ichel is celebrated as the heroine of the Paris

Commune of 1 87 1 . Schools, railway stations and streets a re named
after her. I n recent years , a n u m be r of new biographies h ave docu
mented her legendary l ife, and over a thousand of her letters have
been col lated and publ ished .
But outside F ra n ce h e r history and legacy are not wide l y known .
Louise Michel receives fleet i n g references in most histories of the
Commune, when the people of Paris rose u p between M a rch and
May 1 87 1 to establish a short-lived workers' government i n the city.
But after the Com m u n e was crushed , Michel was captured , impris
oned and exiled to the other side of the worl d . From there , she dis
appears from most h istories of the 1 9th centu ry.
Beyond the tumultuous d ays of the Paris Commune , h owever,
Louise M ichel conti nued to lead a l ife of rebel l ion and h o p e .
I nspired by a m ixtu re of a n a rchist, a nticlerical and rep u blican
val u es, M ichel maintained her rebel spirit for the last 30 years of her
l ife , until her d eath in M a rseilles i n January 1 905, aged 74. S h e
spoke, campaig n ed a n d demonstrated i n support o f social revol ution
and women's rig hts i n France and neig hbori n g European countries.
Thro u g h out her later l ife , M ichel was a n internation a l ist. She
s u p ported anticolonial stru g g l e s i n the French colonies of Africa ,
I ndoch i n a and the Pacific i s l a n d s . I n her South Pacific exile, she
stood agai nst t h e racism of her fel l ow deportees, supp o rting the
1 878 revolt by the i n d igenous Kanak population of New Caledonia
against French colonization . In the last decades of the 19th century,
she campaigned for the rights of Algerians who rose aga i n st F rench
2 louise michel rebelli v e s
rule, paving the way for later g e n e rations of French pacifists and
soci a l i sts who supported A l g e ri a's Nati o n a l L i b e ration F ro n t in
1 954-62.
She was a teacher, a writer, a poet a n d a defiant orator who
inspired others to write poems a n d eulogies in her honor. And d uring
her l ife, Louise Michel m a i ntai n e d a l ively corres p o n d e nce with
poets and writers, scientists and a n a rchists, d runkards and loved
o nes.
Early life
Louise Michel was born o n May 29, 1 830, i n the small village of
Vroncourt in the Haute-Marn e region of France. Her mother, M a rie
A n n e M i c h e l , worked a s a s e rv a n t for t h e l a n down e r E t i e n n e
Charles Demahis. Marie-An n e was u n m a rried, and many writers
suggest that Louise's fathe r was Dem a his' son Laurent - through
out her life, i n fact, Michel reg a rd e d the older Demahis as her own
g randp a rents.
F rom an early age, Michel was encouraged to read and question
by these g randpare nts. She wanted to b e a writer, and throug hout
her life composed a variety of poems, essays, theater scripts and
stories - often unreadable, always passionate. She began writing
to the fa mous author Victor H ugo, known throughout the world for
h is books Les Miserables a n d The Hunchback of Notre Dame, and
they formed a lifetime frien d s h i p .
H e r criti q u e o f society d rew o n C a t h o l i c v a l ues, h e r l ove of
a nimals and observations of rural life ( see C h apter Two) . As her
Memoirs explain:
As far back as I can remember, the origin of my revolt against

the powerful was my horror at the tortures inflicted on animals.
I used to wish animals could get revenge, that the dog could
bite the man who was mercilessly beating him, that the horse
bleeding under the whip could throw off the man tormenti ng
him.
introduction 3
Michel left home after the death of her grandparents and arguments
with Laurent Demahis' wife, who denounced her as a "bastard." At
age 21, she began studying to be a primary schoolteacher and in
September 1852, she became head teacher at a school in Audelon
court in Haute-Marne. (She later claimed that she opened her own
school to avoid pledging allegiance to Emperor Napoleon I I I, as was
required for public schoolteachers.) She traveled to Paris the next
year to teach, but returned to Haute-Marne after several months
w hen her mother fell sick.
Over t h e next few years, Mic hel taught at small schools at
Clefmont and Millieres in the Haute-Marne region. She experimen
ted in libertarian teaching methods, using techniques ahead of her
time: composing plays for her students to perform and bringing ani
mals and birds into class for the children to touch. As one colleague
noted:
I can't say it was entirely proper, as the Sorbonne understands

the word. It was something of a free-for-all, with highly unusual
teaching methods, but taking everything into account, you had
to agree that instruction was being offered.
Yet she continued to dream of Paris. It was only in 1865 that she
had enough funds to open a day school in the capital, after selling
some land left to her by the Demahis family.
Struggle against the empire

As a provincial schoolteac h er, Louise Michel was not actively
engaged in the turbulent politics of the mid-19th century. Throughout
Europe, the year 1848 was marked by popular and republican up
risings - in France, a republic was declared. But in 1851, the short
lived French Republic was overthrown in a coup d'etat by Charles
Louis Napoleon Bonaparte (nephew of the famous general).
Louis Napoleon's Second Empire lasted until 1870, with support
from the conservative rural peasantry. By the end of his reign,

4 louise michel rebel lives
however, popular opposition to the empire was rising. During the
1 860s, many elections in urban centers were won by republicans
- both middle-class reformers and working-class radicals. On
January 1 2, 1870, nearly 100,000 people demonstrated against the
Second Empire after a republican journalist Victor Noir was killed by
Prince Pierre Bonaparte, the emperor's cousin. Louise Michel atten
ded the funeral dressed as a man, carrying a dagger beneath her
clothes.
In July 1870, after a diplomatic struggle over a Prussian attempt
to take control of the vacant Spanish throne, the French Emperor
declared war on Prussia. In August, three Prussian armies invaded
France. Using new technologies (railways and rapid-firing artillery) ,
they soon defeated French Marshal MacMahon at Worth and Weis
sen burg and surrounded the city of Strasbourg. In mid-August ,
French forces were defeated at Mars-la-Tour and Gravelotte, and the
Prussians advanced on Chalons.
After the decisive Prussian victory at the battle of Sedan ,
Emperor Louis Napoleon III and Marshal MacMahon were captured,
capitulating on September 2 with over 83,000 soldiers. At news of
the Sedan defeat, workers in Paris invaded the Bourbon Palace and
forced the Legislative Assembly to proclaim the fall of the empire
and declare a republic on September 4. A provisional Government
of National Defense was established to continue the war to remove
the Prussians from France: "not an inch of our soil, not a stone of our
fortresses, will we cede."
Just a few years earlier in 1 864 , the German revolutionary Karl
Marx helped found the International Working Men's Association in
London (a network later called the First International). Now, a series
of meetings and demonstrations began in London and other Euro
pean cities , calling for recognition of the new French Republic. T he
General Council of the First International took a direct part in this
solidarity movement, organizing resolutions and petitions calling on
the British Government to immediately recognize the republic.

introduction 5
Early political activism

During this u p h eava l , Louise M ichel was d rawn into the political
activity that would consume the rest of her l ife.
I n Paris, M i ch e l h a d beg u n to read texts on n atura l h i sto ry,
c h e m istry a n d s c i e ntific p h ilosop hy, i n c l u d i n g Charles D a rw in's
Origin of the Species, and declared herself to be an athe ist and a
materialist. She joined the U nion of Poets and mai ntained an exten
s i ve correspo n d e n ce w i t h c u l t u ra l fig u res such a s writer Victor
Hugo, poet Paul Verl a i n e and other French artists. She a l so met a
range of repu bl ica n and revolutionary leaders who would p l ay a key
role in the Paris Comm u n e , such as Theophile Ferre (th e social ist
agitator whom she most adm i red - even loved - but who was exe
cuted in November 1 87 1 after the fal l of the Commu ne).
On August 1 5 , 187 0 , Louise M ichel joi ned a demonstration i n
s u p port o f G e n e ra l s E m i l e E u d e s and Bridea u , two re p u b l ica n s
arrested b y t h e government. S h e carried a petition i n th e i r favor to
General Trochu , the m i litary governor of Paris. I n September, Louise
M ichel h it public notice with her calls for "free thi n king citizens" to
provide n u rs i n g a n d medical s u p po rt to the town of Strasbou rg ,
which had been encircled b y the Prussian Army for over a month :
The idea came to some among us - or rather, some women

among us, for we women were in the majority - to get weap
ons and set forth to help Strasbourg defend itself, and to die
with it.
She was a member of two vigilance committees establish ed in the

1 8th arrondissement in the eastern suburbs of Paris - one for men
and the othe r for wom e n . In N ovember, she was elected president
of the Women's Vig i l a n ce Committee:
I spent the finest h o u rs of the siege with the M o ntma rtre

Vigi lance Committee and with the Club de la Patrie en Danger.
One was a l ittle more fully alive there, with the feeli n g of being
in one's element, in the midst of the intense struggle for liberty.
6 louise michel rebelliv e s
T h e Prussian military adva n ce continu e d in late 1 870. Paris was

besieged from September 1 9 , and t h e Government of Natio n a l
Defense moved t o t h e city o f Versail les. The French Army o f over
1 50, 000 men su rrendered on October 27, but when the Government
of National Defense started negotiation s with the Prussians, Paris
workers and sections of the Natio n a l G u a rd rose up in revolt, led by
the socia list revol utionary Louis Auguste Blanqui. They seized the
Paris Town Hall and set u p a revolutionary government - the Com
mittee of Public Safety - which l a sted for just days before Blanqui
was arrested and charged with treason .
B etwee n October 1 87 0 a n d M a rch 1 87 1 , the Government of
National Defense and the radical rep u b lican forces in Paris vied for
politica l supremacy. The republican N ational Guard was established
as a popular militia, effectively arming the workers of Paris. The Nat
ional Guard e n listed 384,0 0 0 me n in 234 n eighborhood battalions
a nd also established a women's battalion led by Colonel Adelaide
Valentin .
Louise Michel was swept up in this revol utionary ferment. She
participated in the massive d emon stration o n October 3 1 , 1 870, in
front of the Pa ris Town H a l l to s u p port the Committee of P u blic
Safety. In December, she was arrested for the first time, fol l owing a
women's d emonstration at the P a ris Town H a l l that called for the
training and recruitment of women for the N ational Guard . And on
January 22, 1 87 1 , d ressed in a N atio n a l Guard uniform and armed
with a rifle, Louise Michel returned fire on troops under the com
mand of Versailles Genera l Trochu when they s hot at a crowd pro
testing in front of the Town H a l l .
Louise Michel even argued with oth e r radicals, suggesting that
she should travel to Versailles to assassinate Adolphe Thiers, the
reactionary leader of the Government of N ational Defense. Althoug h
persuaded that an act of terror wou l d only b ring reprisals, she trav
e l ed to Versailles in disguise and returned to Paris to prove it could
be done.
The Government of National Defense moved to surrender to the
introduction 7
encircling Prussian forces, agreeing to pay five billion francs and

hand over much of the border provinces of Alsace and Lorraine. B u t
the surrender wou ld only take effect i f Paris could be controlled.
Before dawn on March 1 8, 1 87 1 , the Versailles Government sent
4 , 000 troops to seize the cannons held by the National Guard. Many
of these guns were stationed on the Butte of Montmartre - the bluffs
overlooki ng the city - and the suburb where Louise Michel was an
active member of the Women's Committee. As she describes in her
Memoirs (see Chapter Three), Michel helped rally women to seize
the National Guard cannon and stop the Versailles troops from dragging
them away. The troops refused to fire on the women, and instead
arrested and shot their own commander!
Delegates of the National Guard found themselves in effective
politi cal control of the city, and elections were called within a week.
The Paris Commune had begun its revolt.
Popular control in the Commune
So what was the Commune? In French, the term means local muni
cipality, but for the men and women of 1 87 1 , it also recall ed the
Commune created during the French Revolution in 1 792 - a sym
bol of popular control.
On March 2 6 , 1 87 1 , a week after the attempted seizu re of the
National Guard's cannon, over 229, 000 citizens of Paris e lected an
8 0-member muni cipal cou ncil. The Paris Commu ne consisted of
middle-class republicans as well as more radical workers and shop
keepers. Nearly half the elected members of the Commune were
ski lled workers, while others were j ournalists, lawyers, doctors and
accountants. Most were s u pporters of the republican left - almost
20 percent were members of Marx's First I nternational, while others
were followers of the anarchist leader Pierre-Joseph Proudhon (inc
luding the fabric designer Eugene Pottier, who was later to write the
revolutionary hymn "The Internationale"). Louise Michel's subu rb
Montmartre was a hotbed of working-class and revolutionary ferment,
8 louise michel rebel l ives
with 1 5 ,000 of 1 7,000 eligible voters supporti ng the jailed socialist

Auguste Blanqui.
I n its short life between March and May 1 87 1 , the Commune
enacted a series of decrees to promote radical democracy - poli
cies on security, democracy and e conomy that led to i ts celebration
as the first workers' government. T he se i ncluded:
Security: The Paris upri sing marked a re volt against the old
symbols of mili tari sm and repression. The first decision of the Com
mune was to aboli sh conscription and the standing army, leaving
the National Guard mili ti a as the sole armed force . The gui llotine
was publicl y burnt by National Guard troops, amid great popular
rejoicing. On May 1 6 , in the dying days of the Commune , the Vi ctory
Column on the Place Vend6me (cast from guns captured by Napoleon
after the war of 1 809) was demolished as a "symbol of chauvinism
and incitement to national hatred."
Democracy: The Commune decreed the separati on of church
from state, the abolition of all state payments for religious purposes
and the transfer of all church prope rty i nto national property. The
decree ordered the removal of all religious symbols, pictures, dog
mas and prayers from schools - "all that belongs to the sphere of
the individual's conscience . "
Key administrati ve, judicial and educational positions were fi lled
by popular election rather than appointment, and members of the
Commune were forbidden to hold multiple posi tions. Fore i gners
elected to the Commune were confirmed in offi ce, because "the flag
of the Commune is the flag of the World Republic. "
Economy: Other reforms ope ne d the way for working people to
seize economic power. In light of the economic collapse brought on
by the war and siege of Paris, the Commune moved to shift the tax
burden away from workers, tradespeople , artisans and small busi
nesses, decreeing a moratorium on debt foreclosures, postponing
debt obli gations for three years and supporti ng the aboliti on of
interest on debts. Pension ri ghts were e xtended to common-law
wives and children, a challenge to church values and propriety.
in traduction 9
In one of its few exp l icitly socialist steps, on April 16, the Com
mune issued a d ecree o n a bandoned facto ries, so that people co uld
for m coope ratives and wor k in factories d eserted by the ir owners
who had fled the revo l utio n.
T h e Co m m u n e a lso d e c i d e d that its el ected mem bers co u l d
o n l y receive a salary o f u p to 6,00 0 francs - s i m i lar to that of other
wo rkers. A decree a bo l is hed n i g h t work for bakers, ended the un
popular system of workers ' reg istration cards and ordered the clos
ing of pawnshops as "a pr ivate exploitation of labor."
Women in the Commune

T h ro u g ho u t the Co m m une, Paris i a ns organ ized thems e l ves i nto
local com m u n ity c l u bs, a n d these popular associations becam e cen
ters of debate, theater and p u b l is h i ng. After the creat i o n of th e
Commune i n M arch 1 87 1 , Lo u is e M ichel reg ularly participated in
meetings of the (men's ) Vigilance Com m ittee in Montmart re a n d im
mersed herself i n support work for ch i l d ren, wo men 's grou ps and
com m u nity associations.
As chair of the Wo m e n 's V i g i lance Committee, she pl ayed a
leading rol e in mob i l izing women in support of the Com m u ne, and
organ ized day care for 200 children l iving in besieged Paris . She
recr uited wo men as a m b u la nce wo rkers, even among th e sex wor
kers from h er su bur b. Rejecti ng h e r male com patriots' concer n that
"the wounded m ust be tended by pure hands," she argu e d :
Who has more right than these women , the most pitifu l o f the
old order's victims, to give their life for the new?
Wo men's activists l i ke Sophie P o i rier and the 20-year-o l d R ussian

revo l utionar y E l isa beth D m itrieff moved beyond more basic d e m
a n ds, putting forward soci a l ist proposals to the leaders of the Paris
Com mune. Poi ri er esta b l ished a workshop em ploying ove r 70 wom
en, all of whom s h ared i n the profits.
These radica ls called for the seizure of deserted factories fo r use
by the women who worked in the m (see Cha pter Four). The i r dem
a nds - equal pay for e q u a l work, bette r occupational health and
safety, a redu ction i n working h o u rs - stil l resonate today. In res
ponse, some Commune d ecrees d i rectly add ressed wome n's sta
t u s, such as a decree on May 21 that g ra nted equal pay to male and
fe m a le teachers .
The example of the Paris Commune

The Paris Commune, which o n l y lasted between March 1 8 and May
28, 1 87 1 , has assumed legendary i m po rta nce. It inspired a range
of anarchists, social i sts and com m u n i sts i n the decades leading u p
to t h e Russian Revolution o f 1 9 1 7 , a n d w a s a sou rce o f i d e a s a bout
the replacement of ca pita l i st pol itical structures with those that could
assist a tra nsition to a socialist society.
The Paris uprising is cel e b rated as the first g reat workers' revolt
to challenge the power of the state and form a workers' govern ment .
This legacy comes eve n though m a n y of its decrees and actions
were not fu l l y implemented, g iven the short period of popular control
of the city, and many of the C o m m u n e leaders were not workers,
soci a l ists or revolutiona ries.
From his exi le in London, Karl M a rx closely fo llowed events in
Pari s . Just days after th e uprising, h e p u b l i shed The Civil War in
France, a report for the Genera l Council of the Fi rst I nternational.
Th i s fa m o u s text a n a l yzed th e i m p o rta n c e of t h e sh o rt- l i ved

Commune and challenged the notion that ord i n a ry workers are not
equipped to govern. Th e pamphlet was a scathing polemical attack
on Adolphe Th iers - the "monstrous g nome," "a parliamentary Tom
Th umb," "a mon key allowed for a time to g i ve fu l l vent to his tigerish
insti nct." Before the end of the year, it had been publ ished i n 30
e d itions in 1 1 lang uages .
Marx sugg ested that the C o m m u n e re p resented a s i g n i ficant
n ew breakth rough i n creating a worke rs' government, rather tha n
one l e d b y middle-class re publicans:
introduction 11
This was the first revolution in which the working class was
openly acknowledged as the only class capable of social initia
tive, even by the great bulk of the Paris middle class - shop
keepers , tradesmen , merchants - the wealthy capitalists
alone excepted.
In an April 1871 letter sent to a colleague in the First International,
Marx argued: "History has no like example of greatness. With the
struggle in Paris , the struggle of the working class against the capi
talist class and its state has entered a new phase."
Marx and his collaborator Friedrich Engels argued that the Com
mune raised crucial issues for any radical movement. In 1872 , in a
new introduction to their revolutionary Communist Manifesto, they
argued that a workers' revolution would have to "smash the state
machine" before it could progress any further: "One thing especially
was proved by the Commune . .. that the working class cannot simp
ly lay hold of the ready-made state machinery and wield it for its
own purposes."
Repression of the Communards

This republican , anticlerical and popular rebellion struck fear in both
the Prussian Army and the reactionary French Government of
National Defense. Versailles leader Adolphe Thiers asked Prussian
Chancellor Otto von Bismarck for permission to build up the Ver
sailles Army with French prisoners of war who had surrendered after
the Prussian victories at Sedan and Metz. Bismarck agreed after the
payment of a massive indemnity, and the French Army began a siege
of Paris.
From April 3, 1871, the Versailles troops launched a final assault
to crush the Paris Commune. As a member of the 6 1 st Montmartre
battalion, Louise Michel participated in the defense of Paris, both as
a fighter and a medical worker.
The image of Louise Michel as warrior is often highlighted in
histories of the Commune, ignoring her achievements as poet and

politician. But there is no doubt that she was on the barricades in the
defense of Paris. She fought in battles at Clamart, Neuilly and Issy
les-Moulineaux , and her courage is mentioned specifically in the
Commune's official Journal on April 1 0: "An energetic woman has
been fighting in the ranks of the 6 1 st Battalion, and has killed sev
eral police and soldiers."
In between the fighting, she read the works of Baudelaire and
played the harmonium at a church near Neuilly. But in her own Memoirs,
she writes:
Yes, barbarian that I was , I loved the cannon, the smell of gun
powder and grapeshot in the air, but above all, I was in love
with the revolution!
Versailles troops entered Paris on May 2 1 , after Prussian troops who
held the northern and eastern forts allowed the French troops to
cross land to the north of the city. In the wealthier suburbs, the Ver
sailles troops were welcomed as liberators , but resistance was
fiercer as they approached the working-class suburbs. As Paris
burned , Communard women were denounced as petroleuses (in
cendiaries or arsonists), a charge later hurled at Louise Michel by
the conservative press.
In the final days of conflict, the Communards executed a number
of military, church and political hostages, for which they were pillor
ied by the Versailles press. But these deaths were overshadowed by
the ferocity of the Versailles troops, who spent eight days massac
ring workers and shooting many civilians on sight. An English eye
witness noted the resistance of Michel's women's battalion:
They fought like devils, far better than the men; and I had the
pain of seeing 52 shot down, even when they had been sur
rounded by the troops and disarmed.
Thousands of Communards and workers were summarily executed.
The exact number of dead is unknown, but more than 20,000 were
killed, with 43,000 others arrested, tens of thousands imprisoned

introduction 13
and nearly 5 , 000 later deported. A March 1 872 law banned the First
I nternational as subversive, and all socialis t and anarchist activity
was illegal for over a decade.
Today, at the Pere Lachaise cemetery in Paris, a small plaque
marks the wall where the final Communards who surrendered were
gunned down - "Aux Morts de la Commune, 21 -28 mai, 1 87 1 " (To
the dead of the Commune). The cemetery is best known to tourists
as the resting place for the singer of The Doors , Jim Morrison, but
the corner near the Commune plaque is surrounded by the graves
of French revolutionaries , including anti-Nazi Resistan ce fighters ,
trade unionists and socialist and communist activists .
Trial and deportation
Louise Michel escaped the final massacre of the Comm unards . On

May 1 8, she had been sent to work with the Vigilance Committee in
Montmartre. She fought at the Montmartre cemetery and on the bar
ricades at Clignancourt, where she took part in the last resistance
against the advancing Versailles troops. At first she evaded capture,
but when her mother was taken hostage she turned herself in. Soon
after, she was transferred to Versailles and brought before a military
tribunal for interrogation.
In September 1 87 1 , Michel was transferred to the Arras prison,
where she was held for over two months until her trial. On December
1 6 , 1 87 1 , Louise Michel appeared before the 4 th Council of War.
As detailed in Chapter Eight, Michel had little respect for any court
of law. She scorned the authority of the military tribunal, s tating:
Louise Michel: Since it seems that any heart which beats for liberty
has the right only to a small lump of lead, I demand my share. I f you
let me live, I will not stop crying for vengeance, and I will denounce
the assassins on the B oard of Pardons to avenge my brothers .
President of the Court: I cannot allow you to continue speaking if you
continue in this tone.
L ouise Michel: I have finished . . . If you are not cowards, kill me.
H e r defiance mad e t h e front pag e o f newspapers around F rance,

and Victor Hugo wrote the poem "Viro Major" in her honor. But the
judges rejected h e r offe r of ma rtyrdom. I n stead , t h e co u rt con
d emned her to deportation withi n a fortress i n New Caledoni a , the
French South Pacifi c colony 2 0 , 00 0 miles from Paris. S h e refused
to appeal the decisio n , a n d was d eta i n ed in France for nearly two
years awaiting deportation .
On August 24, 1 87 3 , she joined other Commu nards who were
transfe rred by train through Pa ris to the port of La Roch elle. Four
days late r, 1 69 deportees - 20 of them women - were loaded onto
the vessel Virginie for the fou r- month voya g e to the South Pacific.
Among the Kanaks

Just 1 , 800 kilometers off the east coast of Australia, the islands of
N ew Ca ledonia became L o u i s e M ic h e l's e x i l e for more t h a n six
years.
After the an nexation of New Caledonia in 1 853, France estab
l i shed a penal colony that remai n e d the corn e rsto n e of co l o n i a l
society until its closure in 1 89 7 . A s wel l as criminals, the convoys
brought Algerian prisoners after the d efeat of the 1 87 1 uprising led
by Abd-el Kader, together with pol itical prisoners after the crush i n g
of t h e Paris Commu ne. Over 4,200 Comm u na rds were deported to
N ew Caledon ia, with 20 convoys traveling between September 29,
1872 , and October 25, 1 878.
Louise Michel arrived i n New Caledonia o n December 1 0 , 1 873.
The leaders of the Commu n e , l i ke He n ri Rochfort, were i n itia l ly de
tained on the Ducos pen i n s u l a at N u mbo. Together with other wom
en of the Commu ne, M ichel refused to be separated from her male
comrades, and was also detained in the camp at Ducos (see letter,
Chapter Seve n ) .
S h e h a d exten sive political discussions with anarchists s u c h a s
N athalie Lemel and Charles M al ato , and i t w a s during her e x i l e that
Michel adopted the anarchist pol itics that she would fol low for the
rest of her life. Her friendship with Rochford was also to last through-
introduction 15
out her life, and he continued to support Michel financially even as

their politics diverged in later years.
T he colonial administration in N ew Caledonia granted immi
grants the best land in the plains and the low valleys. As their land
was taken, the indigenous Melanesian population known as Kanaks
was pushed back into the narrow valleys of the interior, where it was
difficult to grow staple foods like yam and taro.
Louise Michel took up defense of the Kanak cause: "To some
comrades I seemed to be more Kanak than the Kanaks" (see Chap
ter Seven). From an early fascination with cannibalism , she started
to learn some of the indigenous Kanak languages, and worked as
a teacher with Kanak children and adults. Michel's style of teaching
soon raised the ire of one prison administrator, who stated:
You must close your school. You' re filling the heads of these
Canaques with pernicious doctrines. The other day, you were
heard talking about humanity, j ustice, freedom and other
useless things.
Gradually, she collected Kanak legends, chants and songs, which

were published in the local newspaper Les Petits Affiches, and
collated and republished on her return to Paris.
From the 1840s, Kanak clans had sporadically resisted the theft
of their land. The policy of cantonment, imposed systematically from
1 876 onwards, contributed to the great uprising of 1 87 8 led by Chief
Atai. Atai was famous for his declaration against the theft of Kanak
land: "When my taro can go and eat on the land where y our cows
graze, I will respect your enclosures."
With many clans following Atai, this rebellion continued for two
months in the west of the main island, around colonial centers like
La Foa, Bourail and Bouloupari. Isolated farms were attacked, and
some 200 colonists were killed. Repression by the French Army was
fierce, and continued for over six months, causing more than 1,200
deaths among the Kanaks, of whom Atai was one - betrayed by
opposing clans.
During the 1878 revolt, most of the Communards exiled in New

Caledonia rallied to the French state. But Louise Michel sided with
the Kanaks, identifying with their spirit of rebellion:
The Kanaks were seeking the same l iberty we had sough t in

the Commune. Let me say onl y that my red scarf, the red scarf
of the Com mune that I h ad hidden from every search, was
divided in two pieces one night. Two Kanaks, before going to
j oin th e insurgents against th e whites, had come to say
good bye to me. [Then] they slipped into th e ocean. The sea
was bad, and they may never have arrived across the bay, or
perhaps they were killed in the fighting. I never saw either of
them again, and I don't know which of th e two deaths took them,
but they were brave with the bravery that black and white both
have.
The symbolism of Louise Michel's gesture lives on in the modern

Kanak movement for independence. I n the early 1970s, a new
generation of Kanak students returned home after studying in France
during the turmoil of May 1968. To cam paign for independence from
F rance, they formed a group called the Foulards Rouges - the Red
Scarves. Today, Michel's writings on Kanak cul tu re are republished
in New Caledonia, a primary school has been named after her and
"Th e Red Virgin," a play in her honor, was performed at the Tjibaou
Cul tural Center in 2002.
Solidarity with Algeria
Louise Michel' s internationalism was also expressed in her soli

darity with the 187 1 Kabyle uprising in Algeria, where 2 0 0 , 0 0 0
people rose u p against French rule - a revolt crushed b y 80, 000
French troops. Michel's Memoirs noted:
In the first d ays after our deportation, one morning we saw the
arrival - in their great white burnous - of the Arabs deported,
like us, for having risen up against oppression. These Orientals,
in troduction 17
who have been jai l ed far from their tents and their flocks , are
so simple and g ood and of great merit.
M ichel's soli darity with the Kan a ks and Algerians stood o u t agai nst
the preva i l i n g racism of the settler community in Noumea and even
among m a n y e x i l e d C o m m u n a rd s , a n d in her Memoirs, M i ch e l
recalls friends made among t h e Algerian deportees.
In Decembe r 1879, Louise M ichel was offered a red uction in her
sentence , which s h e i n it i a l l y refused. However, in J u l y 1880 , an
amnesty decree was issued i n France for members of the Commune
and Michel was pardoned. Arriving in Australia on her way home,
she req uested passage to F ra n ce on a fast mail carrier rather than
a slow sai l i n g s h i p to get to h e r mother's side more q u ickly. Her
request was i n itially refused , but i n her Memoirs she describes h ow
she encouraged the French Consul to speed her passage :
The French Consul a t Sydney had not yet made u p h i s mind

to repatriate me with some others scheduled to go on the mai l
ship. I told him that, in that case, I would b e oblig ed to g ive
lectures on the Commune for several days, so that I could use
the fees for my trip. He then decided to send me with 20 others
on the mail ship John Helder which was leaving for London .
She arrived i n London on November 7, 1 880, then two days later

made a tri u mphal retu rn to the Saint-Lazare station in Paris.
Radical agitation
For the rema i n d e r of h e r l ife , Louise M ichel continued to agitate for
rad ical and a n a rchist causes. Her profile as a former Comm u n a rd
ensured wide p u b l i c attention and popu lar affection , and she often
spoke with tempestuous fury: "The ocean of revol utions w i l l carry us
forward with its h i g h tides."
The Britis h h i storian of anarchism, George Woodcock, descri bed
her as a "secular saint." But for conservatives, Louise Michel became
the symbol of a l l t h i n g s u g l y and threatening. I n caricatures and
polemics , right-wing newspapers d u bbed her "the Red Virg i n , " pres
enting her as unattractive a n d mascu l i n e .
I ronically, her supporters have taken u p this title with prid e , a n d
new generations o f femin ist writers h a v e speculated on her sex
uality and her refusal to marry. In ma ny recent studies of Michel's l ife ,
writers ponder her admiration for Victor H u g o (old enough to be her
father), her unfulfi l l ed love for the executed Commu nard Theophile
Ferre , and her close relations with women such as M i riam Ferre and
Nathalie Leme l . Scholars sco u r her letters for evidence to back u p
theories that h e r return t o Haute-Marne from Paris was t o b e a r H ugo's
child , or that her b reak with Lemel may have come after the end of
a lesbian relationsh i p.
Clearly, information a bout M ichel's private l ife is scarce . There i s ,
h owever, plenty o f evidence t h a t Lou ise M ichel w a s a passionate
orator and agitator. Throughout the 1 880s and 1 890s , Louise M ichel
spoke at n umerous public meeti n g s i n support of radica l ca uses,
workers' struggles and for the rig hts of the u nemployed . She was
often cal led on to present tributes to her comrades from the Paris
C ommu ne - soon after her retu rn to Paris, in January 188 1 , she
delivered the eu logy at the funeral of socialist leader Blanqui.
She was willing to speak from the stage with a range of rad icals,
but her commitment was to "social revol utio n , " deeply opposed to
parliamentary politics . Altho u g h she was a strong supporter of wom
e n taking their place in society, she did not support the 1 9th century
femin ist demand for the vote for wom e n - she also opposed the
vote for men ! Her emotional ties were with the anarchist movement.
The Manifesto of the Anarchists, p u b l ished in January 1 883 , states:
"Villains that we are, we claim bread for all, knowledge for all, work
for a l l , independence and j u stice for a l l ! "
For Louise M iche l : " I share a l l the i d e a s written there."
On her return from New Caled o n i a , she p u b l ished a number of
volumes a bout Kanak cultu re and the h istory of the Commun e , and
the publication of her Memoirs in 1 886 gave a wider aud ience to her
views. She wrote for many workers' and socialist newsletters and ,
in troduction 19
together with anarchist Sebastian Faure, founded the j ournal L e

Liberlaire i n November 1895.
She maintained her internationalist perspective, and condemn
ed French military operations in its overseas colonies: "In 187 1 , the
government's abattoirs were in Paris, now they're in Madagascar
and Tonkin." In 1880, hundreds of former Communards met at a hall
in Varigaud, calling for amnesty for the 187 1 Algerian rebels who
had risen up against the French - Louise Michel was chosen as
one of two honorary chairs for the conference. She supported this
amnesty campaign for 1 5 years until the final granting of pardons
in 1895. In 190 4, j ust before her death, she traveled to Algeria to
investigate the situation of Arabs in the French colony.
Police harassment
H er adulation by many working-class supporters was matched by

close attention from the police. In the 25 years after her return from
exile, the authorities of several European countries monitored her
speeches and regularly arrested, j ailed or deported her. In one letter
to a friend, she added a postscript:
Would the people responsible for opening my mail please

reseal the letters and put them in the post! As you've seen,
we're not talking about you.
Chapter E ight details her constant run-ins with the law, such as a
two-week stint in prison in January 1882 for insulting police.
On March 9, 188 3 , Louise Michel took part in a rally of unem
ployed people at Les Invalides in Paris, during which some bakeries
were looted. As Michel and fellow anarchist Emile Pouget had been
carrying a black flag at the front of the rally, police issued a warrant
for her arrest. She dodged the police for two weeks (see letter in
Chapter E ight) but on March 2 9 , she wrote to Police Commissioner
Camescasse, saying she would hand herself in, and the next day
she was arrested and taken to Saint-Lazare prison. In this prison,
she met a number of prostitutes, and later took up the cause of sex
20 louise michel rebel liv e s
workers, seeing them as the victim s of sexual exploitation : "No more

g i rls for prostitution , no m o re boys for the army . . . "
At her trial for the Les I nval i d es protest on J u n e 2 1 , the pros
ecutor asked : "Do you take part in every demonstration that occu rs?"
Her reply: "Unfortu n ately, yes. I am a lways on the side of the
wretched !"
After a fiery speech to the judges (see Chapter E i g ht), she was
sentenced to six years' s o l i ta ry d etentio n , fol l owed by 1 0 years
mon itoring by the police, a n d tra nsferred to the Clermont-de-I'Oise
prison. The severity of the sentence shocked many, i ncluding the
poet Paul Verlaine, who wrote his "Bal lad in Honor of Louise M ichel."
Her prison sentence was cut short afte r the d eath of her mother
on Ja nuary 3 , 1 885. Three days after her mother's funera l , a presi
dential d ecree offered M i c h e l a p a rdon . At first she refused , then
l ater accepte d , and was free agai n to continue her ag itation .
Her public speaking conti n ued to p rovoke the a uthorities . On
June 3, 1 886, M i chel spoke with socia list leaders J u les Guesde,
Paul Lafargue and Dr. S u s i n i at a public meeting in Paris, i n favor
of striking m i n e rs from Decazev i l l e . In August, tog ether with her
radical colleagues, she was senten ced to fou r months i n prison and
a 1 00 franc fine for speaking i n favor of the miners . The next month ,
G uesd e , Lafarg ue a n d S u s i n i s uccessfu l l y a ppealed the cou rt's
decision and were released . But Louise refused to a ppea l , emba r
rassing the govern ment with h e r d efiance . After various contortions
by the govern ment, she was pardoned i n November 1 886.
Her closest ca l l came i n J a n u a ry 1 88 8 , after a s peech at the
G afte theater in Le H avre . That eve n i n g , a Catholic fanatic Pierre
Lucas fired his pistol twice and wounded M ichel in the head . Never
theless , she protected Lucas from the a n g ry crowd and later refused
to lodge a complaint against h i m - a symbol of her contempt for the
police and justice syste m .
Trouble came a g a i n fol l owin g a May D a y speech M i chel gave i n
t h e French town o f Vienne on Apri l 3 0 , 1 890. M ichel was arrested
after protesting workers, carrying red a n d black flags , clashed with
in troduction 21
police, set up barricades in the town and looted a factory. She

refused to accept an offer of provisional release unless all her co
accused were released. Although her arrest warrant was revoked,
she smashed up her cell and refused to leave the prison unless her
conditions were met. The hospital doctors declared her insane (a
common tactic used against rebel women), but fearing a scandal the
government released her, returning her to Paris on June 4.
Fearful that the authorities would use the insanity declaration to
condemn her to an asylum, L ouise Michel fled to London in July
1 890 and lived in exile for the next five years.
London and Paris
At the end of the 1 9th century, the British capital was home to many
exiled European radicals and anarchists. In London, Louise opened
the I nternational School for the children of political refug ees - prob
ably the first libertarian school to be founded in Britain. The flavor
of the school is suggested by the membership of the school board,
which included the English designer and socialist Will iam Morris,
the Russian anarchist Prince Peter Kropotkin and Italian revolution
ary E rrico Malatesta. The school prospectus included a statement by
the Russian anarchist Mikhail Bakunin:
All rational education is at bottom nothing but the progressive

immolation of authority for the benefit of liberty, the final obj ect
of education necessarily being the formation of free m en full
of respect and l ove for the liberty of others.
The school promoted "rational and integral education": no subj ects

were compulsory, teaching was in small groups and students were
encouraged to think for themselves. H owever, the school was closed
in 1 892 after the police claimed they had found bomb-making
equipment in the basement.
On November 1 3 , 189 5 , Michel returned to Paris to a massive
welcome rally at Saint-Lazare station, and resumed her speaking
tours around France in support of anarchist and workers' causes. For
the next 10 years, ignoring poor health, she continued to travel

between London, Paris, Edinburgh and other European capitals to
preach the gospel of rebellion.
Traveling anarchist
Although widely respected, as a woman she did not command the

same authority in revolutionary circles as leaders like Blanqui, Krop
otkin and Marx. But Michel continued to play a significant role in the
debates of the late 1 9th century between anarchists, socialists and
communists over the best way to create revolution.
In July 1 881 , Louise Michel attended the International Congress
of Workers and Syndicalists in Britain. The meeting was organized
by the anarchist leader Peter Kropotkin, who hoped to create an
anarchist "Black International" to match Karl Marx's communist First
International. Michel traveled to London as a representative of
French anarchist groups, j oining delegates from Europe, the United
States, Mexico, Russia and beyond. The congress, however, was a
failure, and a second attempt - the Second International Congress
of 1896 - saw a lasting rupture between Marxist social democrats
and anarchists.
After being arrested in Belgium and expelled from the country in
September 1 897, Michel continued to travel between Paris and
London from 1898 to 1 900, attending conferences and editing her
writings on the Paris Commune.
In exile, she played a public role in supporting trade unionists,
anarchists and democrats facing police repression. Police archives
record her speaking at Nelson's Column in Trafalgar Square in
support of radicals imprisoned and tortured in Spain. She cam
paigned in London alongside British labor leader Tom Mann, and
anarchists Kropotkin, Malatesta and Emma Goldman in support of
the Haymarket martyrs ( executed after a bomb killed policemen in
Chicago, United States, at a protest for the eight-hour day on May
1 , 1886). In December 1 899, Michel appeared again in London with
Goldman and Kropotkin, at a "Grand Meeting and Concert for the
introduction 23
Benefit of the Agitation in Favor of the Political Victims in Ita ly." S h e
a l so cond emned the a nti-Sem itis m o f the rig ht, as she fo l l owed the
cam paig n for Ca ptain Alfred Dreyfu s , a French Army officer fal s e l y
accused o f treason a n d jailed o n the penal colony o f Devil 's Is l a n d .
Stricken with p n e u m onia at a g e 71, she n e a r l y died , but retu rned
to France from London o n May 15, 1902, to conti nue a series of p u b
lic meeti ngs.
T h roug hout 1903, s h e tou red France with the young a n a rchist
jou rnalist Ernest Gira u l t , u ntil she ret u rned to London on October 27,
1903, ill once a g ain. A seco n d tou r of public meetings with Gira u l t
starting i n F e b ru a ry 1904 w a s c u t s h o rt in To u l on o n M a rch 20

because o f h e r i l l health. In M a y, Louise drafted h e r will, leaving h e r
few possessions t o h e r com ra d e Cha rlotte Va uve l l e , and aski ng to
be b u ried besid e h e r m o t h e r, wit h o u t re ligio u s ce remon y, at t h e
Leva l l ois-Pe rret cemetery. T h at month , she sta rted he r s peaking
tou rs ag ain , but t h e tol l on h e r h e a lth was too g reat.
Afte r visiting Algeria in l ate 1904, she arrived exhau sted in the
southern F rench city of M a rseil l e s - where she died on Ja n u ary 9,

1905, aged 74.
Posters t h ro u g h o u t t h e ca pita l a n n o u n ced: "Pe ople of Pa ri s ,
Louise Michel i s dead." T h e Pa ris Police Commissione r m o bilized
nearly 10,000 police for her fu n e ral. Her coffin was transporte d fro m
M a rseilles to Paris and on Jan u a ry 22, 1905, a procession of 120,000
people fol l owed h e r coffin from the G a re de Lyon station in Paris to
the Leva l l ois-Pe rret ce m etery.
That day, t h e czar's troops fired on demon strators in front of t h e
Winter Pa l a ce i n S1. Pete rs b u rg , Ru ssia - the p recu rs o r t o t h e
Russian Revol ution. L ouise Michel's legacy lives on.
Nic Mac/el/an
Melbourne, Australia
March 2004
tribute to Lo u ise Michel from Victor Hugo
Viro Major
Having seen the immense massacre, the combat
the people on their cross, Paris on its pallet bed,
Tremendous pity was in your words.
You did what the great mad souls do
And, weary of fighting, dreaming, suffering,
You said, "1 killed!" because you wanted to die.
You lied against yourself, terrible and superhuman.

Judith the sombre Jewess, Aria the Roman
Would have clapped their hands while you spoke.
You said to the lofts: "I burnt the palaces!"
You glorified those who are crushed and downtrodden.
You cried: "I killed! Let them kill me!" - And the crowd
Listened to this haughty woman accuse herself.
You seemed to blow a kiss to the sepulchre;
Your steady gaze weighed on the livid judges:
And you dreamed, like the grave Eumenides.
Pale death stood belrin�You.

'(he vast hall was full of terror.
Because the bleeding people detest ciVil war.
Outside could be heard the sound of the town, �
This woman listened to the noisy life ..

.•...• From above, in an austere attitude of refusal. . , .
She did not seem to understand anything other than

A pillory erected for a finale:
And, finding affront noble and agony beautiful,
Sinister, she hastened her steps toward the kmb.
The judges murmured: "Let her die! It is fair.
She is vile- at least she is not majestic,
"
Said their conscience. And the judges, pensive,

Facing yes, facing no, as between two reefs,
Hesitated, watching the severe culprit.
And those who, like me, know you to be incapable

Of all that is not heroism and virtue,
Who know if they asked you, "Where are you from?"
That you would reply, "1 come from the night where there is
suffering;
Yes, I come from the duty which you have made an abyss!"
Those who know your mysterious and sweet verses,
Your days, your nights, your cares, your tears given to all.
Your forgetting of yourself to aid others
Your words which resemble the flames of the apostles;
Those who know the roof without fire, without air, without
bread
The bed of webbing with the fir table
Your goodness, your pride as a woman of the people.
The acrid emotion which sleeps beneath your anger.
Your long look of hate at all the inhuman people

And the feet of the children warmed by your hands:
Those people, woman, facing your timid majesty
Meditated, and despite the bitter fold of your mouth
Despite the one who cursed and hounded you
Who hurled at you the undignified cries of the law
Despite your high, fatal voice with which you accused yourself
They saw the angel's splendor beyond the medusa.
You were tall, and seemed strange in these debates:

For, puny like those who live down there,
Nothing bothers them more than two conflicting souls,
Than the divine chaos of starry things
Seen at the depths of a great inclement heart,
Than the radiation seen in a blaze.
December 1 8, 1 871
(Trans. -Jodie Martir8)
chapter one : Early Life
Growing up in the northeastern region of Haute-Marne, Louise Michel 's
radical vision grew out of her experiences in the countryside. In her
Memoirs, written in prison in the 1880s, she looks back on her you th,
considering her anger at the mistreatment of animals and rural peasants
as sources of her rebellion.
When she moved to Paris in the early 1850s, Louise Michel began to
meet more of the impoverished members of the city. In her poetry, she started
to record her pity for the underclass, and her anger at the wealthy.
Louise Michel
Sources of rebellion
Above everything else, I a m taken b y the revolution. I t had to b e that
way. T he wind that blew through the ruin where I was born, the old
people who brought me up , the solitude a n d freedom of my child
hood, the legends of the H aute-Marne, the scraps of knowledge
g leaned from here and there - all that opened my ear to every
harmony, my spirit to every illumination , my heart to both love and
hate. Everything intermin gled in a sing le son g , a single dream, a
single love: the revolution .
As far back as I can remember, the origin of my revolt against the
powerful was my horror at the tortures inflicted on animals. I used
to wish animals could get revenge, that the dog could bite the man
who was mercilessly beating him, that the horse bleeding under the
whip could throw off the man tormenting him. But mute animals
always submit to their fate. . .
Animals always submit, a n d the more ferocious a man i s toward
a nimals, the more that man cringes before the people who dominate
him ...
My evenings in the village added to the feeling of revolt that I
have felt time and time again. T he peasants sow and harvest the
grain, but they do not always have bread. One woman told me how
during a bad year - that is what they call a year when the mono
polists starve the country - neither she, n or her husba nd, nor their
fou r children were able to eat every day. Owning only the clothes on
their backs, they had nothing more to sell. Merchants who had grain
gave them no more credit, not even a few oats to make a little bread,
and two of their children d ied, they believed, from hunger.
"You have to submit," she said to me. " Everybody can't eat bread
every day."
early life 29
H e r husband had wanted to kill the man who had refused them
credit at 1 00 percent i n te rest while their chi l d ren were dyi n g , but
she stopped h i m . T h e two childre n who ma naged to s u rvive ulti
mately went to work for the man whom her husband wanted to ki l l .
T h e usure r g ave them hard ly a n y wages, but poor people , s h e said ,
"should s u b m it to that which they can n ot prevent."
Her manner was cal m when she told me that story. I had gone
hot-eyed with rage , a n d I said to her, "You should have let you r
h usband d o what h e wanted t o d o . He was right."
I could i mag i n e the poor l ittl e ones dying of hu nger. She had
made that pictu re of misery so d i stressi n g that I could fee l it myself.
I saw the h usband in his torn shirt, his wooden shoes chafing h i s
bare feet, going to b e g at the e v i l usurer's and returning sad ly over
the frozen road s with n ot hi n g . I saw him shaking his fists threat
e n i ngly when his little ones were lying dead on a handfu l of straw.
I saw h i s wife stopping h i m from aveng i n g his own c h i l d ren a n d
others . I saw the two s u rviving children growing up with t h i s memory,
and then going off to work for that man: the cowards.
I thoug ht that if that u s u rer h ad come i n to the village at that
moment I would have leaped at his throat to bite it, and I told her
that. I was i n d ignan t at her believing everybody cou ldn't h ave food
every day. Such stu pidity bewildered me. "You mustn't tal k l i ke that,
little one," the woman said . "It makes God cry."
H ave you ever seen sheep lift the i r throats to the k n ife? That
woman had the mind of a ewe . . .
Someth i n g more than charity was necessary if each person was
always to h ave somethi n g to eat. As for the rich , I had little respect
for them . I know the ful l reality of h eavy work on the land. I know the
woes of the peasant. He is i ncessantly bent over land that is as
harsh as a stepmothe r. For his l a bor all h e gets is leftovers from his
master, and he can get even less comfort from thought and d reams
than we can . H eavy work b e n d s both men and oxen over the
furrows , keeping the slaughterhouse for worn-out beasts and the
beggar's sack for worn-out h u mans.
The land . That word i s at the very bottom of my l ife . It was i n the
thick, illustrated Roman h istory from which my whole fa mily o n both
sides had learned how to read . My g ra n d mother had taught me to
read from it, pointin g out the letters with her large knitti ng needl e .
Reared in t h e cou ntry, I understood t h e agrarian revolts o f o l d Rome,
and I shed many tears on the pages of that book. The d eath of the
G reeks oppressed me then as m u ch as the gallows of Russia did
later.
How misleading are these texts about the h appiness of the fields.
The descriptions of nature are tru e , but the description of the happi
ness of workers in the fields is a lie. People who know no better gaze
at the flowers of the fields and the beautifu l fresh g rass and believe
that the children who watch over the livestock play there . The little
ones want grass only to stretch out i n and sleep a l ittle at noo n . The
shadow of the woods, the yel l owin g crops that the wind moves l i ke
waves - the peasant is too tired to find them beautifu l .
H is work is h eavy, h i s day i s l o n g but h e resigns h i mself, h e
a lways resigns himself, for h i s will i s broken . M a n i s overworked like
a beast. He is half dead a n d works for h i s exploiter without thinking.
No peasa nts get rich by workin g the l a n d ; they only make money for
people who a l ready h ave too m u ch . M a n y m e n have told m e , i n
words that echoed what t h e woma n told me at t h e village: "You must
n ot say that, little one. It offends G od . " That's what they said to me
when I told them that everyon e has a right to everyth i n g there is on
earth .
My pity for everyth i n g that suffers went far - more perhaps for
the silent beast than for m a n . My revol t against social inequa lities
went further. It g rew, and it has continued to g row, through the battles
a nd across the carnage. It d o m i n ates my grief, and it dominates my
l i fe. There was no way t h a t I c o u l d h ave stopped myself from
throwing my life to the revo lutio n .
F rom: The Red Virgin - Memoirs o f Louise Michel.

L ouise Michel
Poem
I have seen criminals and whores
And spoken with them. Now I inquire
If you believe them, made as now they are
To drag their rags in blood and mire
Preordained, an evil race?
You to whom all men are prey
Have made them what they are today.
L ouise Michel
Letter to Victor H ugo
In 1 851, Louise Michel traveled briefly to Paris with her mother. During
this visit, she met the famous writer Victor Hugo, author of The Hunchback
of Notre Dame and Les Miserables, forming a lifetime friendship. On her
return to the province of Haute-M.arne, she sent him numerous poems and
letters.
Yesterday I left the old chateau at Vroncourt, maybe never to see it
again. At present, I'm far from my mother and in a small boarding
school where I 'm preparing to take an examination in August which
will allow me to teach.
Courage often fails me. I want to confess to you, brother, you who
understands all the tortures facing a small child, with all affection
and illusions shattered. All my life is passing before my eyes as if

in a dream, and I dare not look toward the future.

Allow me to open my soul to you. You are good and great like
God - H ugo, please give me a word of hope and maybe I will
believe again in good fortune . . .
My thoughts d rift in the gloom, and I need a powerful voice to say:
" Let th ere be light!" and cast away these shadows. Write me a few
lines, so that I can find s ome courage again, as my strength comes
from G od and from you, brother. . .
L ouise Michel,
Madame Beth's Boarding School
Chau mont en Bassigny,
H aute-Marne, 1 85 1 .
Xaviere Gauthier (ed ) , Louise Michel,

je vous ecris de rna nuit. (Tra n s . -Ed. )
chapter two : Seizing the Guns
The famous incident that sparked the Paris Commune was an a ttempt by
the conservative government in Versailles to seize the cannon held by the
republican National Guard in Paris. Before dawn on March 1 8, 1871, the
Versailles Government sent 4,000 troops to seize the guns. Louise Michel's
Memoirs tell how she helped rally women to stop the troops from dragging
them away.
These events were dramatized in the last full-length play written by
famous German playwright Bertolt Brecht. As an anti-Nazi refugee living
in the United States, B recht was named as a subversive after World War
II. After giving evidence to the House Un-American Activities Committee,
where he denied being a member of the U. S. Communist Party, he left the

United Sta tes for East Germany. In 1 949, Brecht founded the Berliner
Ensemble, which became the country's foremost theater company. He wrote
only one new play before his death in 1 956: Die Tage der Commune (The
Days of the Commune).
Louise Michel
Seizi ng the g u ns
F aced with surrender to the Prussian Army, the Commune and

popular associations mobilized to take power on March 1 8, 1 87 1 .
The cannon paid for by the N at ional Guard had bee n left on
some vacant land in the middle of the zone abandoned by the
Prussians. Paris objected to that, and the cannon were taken to the
Parc Wagram. The idea was in the air that each battalion should
recapture its own cannon. A battalion of the N ational Guard from the
sixth arrondissement gave us our impetus. With the flag in front, men
and w ome n and children haule d t he cannon by hand down the
boulevards, and although t he cannon were loaded, no accidents
occurred. Montmartre , like Belleville and Batignolles, had its own
cannon . Those that had bee n placed in the Place des Vosges were
moved to the faubourg Saint Antoine. Some sailors proposed our
recapturing the Prussian-occupie d forts around the city by boarding
them l ike ships, and this idea intoxicated us.
Then before dawn on March 1 8, the Versailles reactionaries sent
in troops to seize the cannon now held by the N ational Guard. One
of the points they moved toward was the B utte of Montmartre , where
our cannon had been taken. The soldiers of the reactionaries captur
ed our artillery by surprise, but the y were unable to haul them away
as they had intended, because they had neglected to bring horses
with them.
Learning that the Versailles soldiers were trying to seize the
cannon, men and women of Montmartre swarmed up the B utte in a
surprise maneuver. Those people who were climbing believed they
woul d die, but they were prepared to pay the price .
The Butte of Montmartre was bathed in the first light of day,
through which things were glimpsed as if the y were hidden behind
seizing the guns 35
a thin veil of water. Gradually the crowd increased. The other districts
of Paris, hearing of the e vents taking place on the Butte of Mont
martre, came to our ass istance .
The women of Paris covere d the cannon with their bodies. Whe n
their officers ordered the sol diers to fire , the men refused. The same
army that would be use d to crush Paris two months later decide d
now that it did not want to be an accompl ice of the reaction. They
g ave up their attempt to seize the cannon from the National Guard.
They un derstood that the people were defending the republ ic by def
ending the arms that the royal ists and imperialists would have turne d
on Paris i n agree ment wi th the Prussians . When we had won our
victory, I looked around and noticed my poor mother, who had fol low
ed me to the B utte of Montmartre , bel ieving that I was going to die .
On this day, March 1 8, the people wakened. If they had not, it
woul d have bee n the triumph of some king; instead it was a triumph
of the people . M arch 1 8 could have belong e d to the allies of king s ,
o r t o foreigners , o r t o the people . It was the people's . . .
F ro m : Louise M i c h e l , Memoires. (Tra n s . -Ed. )

Louise Michel
Open letter defe n d i n g the seizi ng
of the g u ns in M ontma rtre
After Lou ise Michel led the women of Mon tmartre to p ro tect can n o n
deployed on the h i l l overlooking Paris, Versailles leader Adolphe Thiers told
the newspapers tha t the can n o n belong to the s ta te and n o t the people.
Lou ise Michel wrote an open letter in protest.
Protest from the citizens of Montmartre:
Will we be betrayed in the e nd? N o, Montmartre has not asked to

be disarmed!
Our fathers, brothers, husbands are as indignant as we are read
ing these things in the papers. But if the men were to give back
these cannon placed on the Butte of Montmartre to defend the rep
ublic, we women citizens would defend them to the death, j ust as
we wi ll defend to the last ramparts the violated honor of our nation
which has been betrayed.
Long live the republ ic!

For th e citizens of Montmartre,
The secretary, Louise Michel .
Xaviere Gauthier (ed ) , Louise Michel,

je vous ecris de rna nuit. (Tra n s . -Ed. )
Bertolt Brecht
The Days of the Com m u ne
Montmartre, March 1 8, 1871
Six o 'clock in the morning. It is getting light. The blinds of the bakery
are raised. A window shutter is opened. In some houses lights are
switched on. Two women cross the square. Before they enter the
shop they see the soldiers around the gun.
1 st WOMAN : What does he think he's doing with the gun?

4 th WOMAN: That's Phillippe. H e used to work in the bake r's here.
You've come back j ust in time, Phillippe . The bakery opened up
again yesterday.
PH I LLI PPE: Take it easy, I haven't come to visit the boss.
1 st WOMAN: What are all that lot doing with him?
4th WOMAN : He's led them here because he knows the district.
1 st WOMAN : What are you trying to do with that gun?
PH I LLI PPE: Clear off. I t's none of your business . We're taking it to
Versailles. By order.
1 st WOMAN : You wouldn't dare . You wouldn't dare lay a hand on
that gun, you s hitehawk.
PH I LLIPPE: Come on l adie s , less of i t. Clear off.
1 st WOMAN : Jean Cabet!
4 th WOMAN : Jean!
1 st WOMAN: They're trying to pinch the gun.
PH ILLI PPE: Shut up. You'l l wake up the whole street.
4 th and 1 st WOMEN : J e an, Jean, they're trying to run off with the
gun! !
PH I LLI PPE: T hat's dropped us right in it. Where's the bloody
horses?
38 louise michel re be I I i ves
Jean runs from the house in trousers and shirt.
J EAN : What's the matter? ( Two soldiers grab him. )
He recognizes Phillippe and calls to the house.
J EAN : Frangois, your brother's working for Thiers.
Franr;ois comes out of the house putting his spectacles on.
J EA N : They're trying to snatch the gun.

FRAN<;:OIS: You leave the gun alone. It doesn't belong to you.
PHILLIPPE (laughing) : Since when were you in the National
G uard?
FRAN<;:OIS: The seminary shut down. Keep your thieving hands off
that gun.
Franr;ois is jumped by the other soldiers.
FRAN<;:OIS: Get off me.

P HI LLI PPE: Take it easy kidder.
J EA N : Somebody run and beat the drums.
PHI LLI PPE: You're wasting your time. We slashed the drums as a
precaution.
F RAN <;:OIS: They've covered the whole district.
PHI LLIPPE: Shhuussh.
1 st SOLDI ER: Shut up.
FRAN <;:OIS: The church bells.
J EA N : You bastards.
(He breaks away and gets clear of the soldiers. One aims his rifle
a t him.)
PHI LLI PPE: Don't shoot, or we'll have the whole lot of them down
on top of us.
1 st SOLDI ER: If the horses don't come in a minute we'll be sunk in
any case.
The women return. By and by the square fills up with women. They
block the exits. One woman goes up to the soldiers with a piece of
b read and offers it. The 2nd soldier takes it.

seizing the guns 39
2nd SOLDIER: I wish they'd get a bloody move on wi th thei r

horses.
5th WOMAN : We've g ot white b read here. All you get with Thiers is
bellyache .
GEN EVIEVE: We g ot this bread from Thiers . He robbed you to pay
us , so you can take it wi th a clear conscience.
2nd WOMAN : N ow I can see why we got the white bread. He wants
a straight swap. Guns for bre ad. He must think we're daft.
5th WOMAN : Where're you from son?
2 nd SOLDI ER : From the Auvergne .
5th WOMAN : Ah, from the Auvergne . A farm yacker?
GEN EVI EVE: A peasant.
BAB ETTE: I bet they sent you here without your breakfast, didn't
they?
1 st SOLD IER: They di dn't think we'd be out long.
BABETTE: We got the white b read and you go hungry.
1 st WOMAN : H ave a s up of thi s , lad. Now then, what is there
around here that could interest a young lad li ke you?
3 rd SOLDIER: E h! Don't tear us to bits . Leave us in one piece.
PH I LLIPPE: N ow come on ladies, you are hindering me in the
e xecution of my duty.
GEN EVI EVE: Get i ns i de Franyois. We can handle this without
b loodshe d.
FRANC;OIS: Be careful, Genevie ve .
3rd SOLDIER: The war's over. All we want t o do is go home.
5th WOMAN : Come home with me .
2nd SOLD IER : This is seedi ng time , but you don't think of this do
you - you town people.
4th WOMAN: They ought to be ashamed of themselves, s etting on
women and then dodgi ng the i r duty!
6th WOMAN : Look at them shi ve ring. The only thing they'll get stiff
wi th is cold. Come over here lad, a bit closer to the fire.
5th WOMAN : There are better g ames to play than soldiers .
1 st WOMAN : Let's stop the fig hting . How good are you at drilling?
Stand to attention. Right. To the front salute.

P H I LL I P P E : Quiet, q uiet, q uiet.
O F F I C E R (from the rear) : The horse teams can't get through. The
gun s will have to be manhandled. Anyone who resists is to be shot
out of hand. That's an order from General Lecomte.
PHILLIPPE: Go on, pick up the traces . (To the women.) Shift.
6th WOMAN: Are you going to fight against us just because your
lousy general tells you to?
P H I LL I P P E : Shove off.
G E N EV I EV E : You won't take the guns away, you wretches . We'll
throw ourselves und er the wheels.
P H I LL I P P E : The first one who gets in the way will be shot.
The soldiers struggle to inch the gun forward.
6th WOMAN: Are you going to massacre the lot of us?
Genevieve throws herself in front of the gun.

BABETT E : Genevieve!
P H I L L I P P E (to the women) : Get away or I 'll fire.
Fram�ois comes out of the house with a rifle.
F RANvO I S: Get out of the road , Phillippe.

P H I LL I P P E : Give me that rifle kidder.
BABETT E : Shoot him down. (She repeats this three or four times.)
G E N EVI EVE (steps between them) : No bloodshed .
BAB ETT E : Keep out of it Genevieve.
P H I L L I P P E (aiming) : Drop that gun, kid.
F RAN vOIS: You make one move and I 'll shoot. Our Father, which
art in Heaven, hallowed be Thy name . . .
6 th WOMAN: What's this baker's boy? Are you going to shoot down
your own brother because General Lecomte tells you to.
5th WOMAN: Cain!
P HILLIPPE: I 'm going to count up to three. O n e . . .
G E N EV I EV E : F ran�ois , don't shoot. We are i n the right.
F RANvOIS: Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is
seizing the guns 41
in Heaven. (Getting louder. ) Give us this day our daily bread . . .
PHILLIPPE: Two . . .
F RANQO IS: And forgive u s o u r trespasses. ..
The window opens and Mme Gabet looks out.
M M E GAB ET: Phillippe, put that rifle down at once. How can you
think of such things. S hooting your own brother and him a student
of physics. The government wants peace and order. .. I stick to it
and you can damn well do the same. But then you can't even read ,
I don't sup pose you even know what the government wants.
BAKER'S W I F E: Yes, Madame Gabet, peace and order. An end to
all this shooting. Let's get rid of the gun.
1 st WOMAN: It's our gun.
BAKER'S W I F E: That's not true. The gun belongs to the National
Guard, damn them for heathen troublemakers. I sn't that so?
Phillippe, if you don't get that gun away from here I 'm not having
you back in my bakery. So get on with it.
Mme Gabet shuts the window, she comes down stairs. Phillippe gets
his men working on the gun. Mme Gabet leaves the house, pushes
the soldiers off the gun and puts her hand on it.
M M E GABET: The gun belongs to me.
BAKER'S W I F E: What?
G EN EV I EV E: It's true. Madame Gabet raised the money for it. But
you, Madame Poulard never gave a sou. (To the soldiers. ) The gun
belongs to Madame Gabet j ust as her pots and pans do. You can't
have it.
PHI L L I P P E: Oh come on. Let's talk sense.
BAKE R'S W I F E: This is treachery.
BAB ETTE: Paying back treachery in its own coin.
BAKER'S W I F E: You're sacked.
Laughter. The door shuts.
1 st WOMAN: You can stuff your mouldy bread.
5th WOMAN: They can't expect you to shoot your own brother.
P H ILLI PPE : I ' m not a baker and I ' m n ot a brother, ladies, I'm doi ng
my duty.
GEN EVIEVE (to the other soldiers) : And the rest of you . . . ? What
are you going to do with your guns?
2nd SO LDI ER: Shit, we shouldn 't have to do this . . .
Around the gun upon which Mme Cabet is sitting a thick crowd has
collected, Papa and Coco come running with fixed bayonets. Noise
comes from e verywhere.
PAPA: Get away from the gun.

MM E CABET: Good morning.
PAPA: Morning.
COCO : Morning.
BABETTE : This is Madame Cabel's gun.
PAPA: So I see .
COCO : I can hardly bel ieve it.
PAPA: Lon g live Madame Cabet, sole owne r of the gun in the Rue
Pigall e. What's up with him?
P H ILLIPPE : I t's not our fault they di dn ' t sen d us horses. We can' t
push our way through these women.
L a ughter from the women.
PAPA: You see , fine words. Turn bayonets. H old onto them. Take
them to your hearts where they can't do any harm.
L angevin enters.
BABETTE : Uncle Pierre.

PAPA: Where have you come from?
LANGEVIN (confidentially) : Straight from Gen e ral Lecomte . He
gave the order for two of us to be shot in the Rue Lepi c, but his
men turned on him and arrested him. I've bee n released and I
came straight here.
PAPA: Lecomte . We know all about that pi g. He's got to answer for
the January killings. Where is he now?
LANGEVI N : They took him to the guard post.
seizing the guns 43
PAPA: We've g ot to get there q uick. If h e isn't i n our hands i n five

min utes they' l l let him escape.
COCO: Calm d own Papa.
PAPA: Calm down . . . M e . This is a matter of l ife and death and you
tell me to cal m d own . . .
LAN G EV I N : The Central Com m ittee wil l be meeting this even ing.
G E N EV I EV E : We won't pay back killing with kil l i n g .
PAPA: No Mademoise l l e , we' l l let t h e m slaughter us l i ke we did in
January. (He rushes off.)
LANG EVI N : T h e genera l will be tried in a cou rt of l aw, brother.
PAPA: We a re the law.
LAN GEVI N : Let's barricade the streets. They might attack us at any
time.
MME CABET: Perhaps someone will g ive me a hand dow n ?
F ro m : Bertolt Brecht, The Days o f the Commune
(London: Eyre Meth e u n , 1 978).

chapter three : Paris Enraged
Following the failu re of Versailles to seize the g u n s defe n ding Paris,
elections were held for a new adminis tra tion in the city of Paris . In later
years, the Paris Com mune served as a model for socialists and radicals across
E u rope.
On the 20th ann iversary of the cru shing of the Com m u n e, Karl Marx's
collaborator Friedrich Engels wrote abou t the history of the Com mune.
From Sep tember 1 8 70, Paris was besieged by Prussian troops. D u ring
the win ter of 1 8 70, there was increasing s ta rva tion and hardship among
working people in the capital. In her Memoirs, Louise Michel describes her
participation in the creation of local associations in the working-class suburb
of Montmartre, and her role in the defense of the Comm u ne.

Friedrich Engels
H istory of the Com m u ne
The necessary consequence was the Paris Revolution of Septem
ber 4, 1 870. The empire collapsed like a house of cards, and the
republic was again proclaimed. But the enemy was standing at the
gates ; the armies of the empire were either hopelessly encircled at
Metz or held captive in Germany. In this emergency the people al
lowed the Paris deputies to the former legislative body to constitute
themselves into a " Government of National Defense." T his was the
more readily conceded , since , for the purposes of defense , all
Parisians capable of bearing arms had enrolled in the National
Guard and were armed , so that now the workers constituted a great
majority. But very soon the antagonism between the almost com
pletely bourgeois government and the armed proletariat broke into
open conflict. On October 3 1 , workers' battalions sto rmed the town
hall and captured part of the membership of the government. Treach
ery, the government's direct breac h of its undertakings , and the
intervention of some petty-bourgeois battalions set them free again ,
and in order not to occasion the outbreak of civil war inside a city
besieged by a foreign military power, the former government was left
in office.
At last , on January 28, 1 87 1 , starved Paris capitulated. But with
honors unprecedented in the history of war. The forts were surren
dered , the city wall stripped of guns, the weapons of the regiments
of the line and of the Mobile Guard were handed over, and they
themselves considered prisoners of war. But the National Guard
kept its weapons and guns, and only entered into an armistice with
the victors. And these did not dare enter Paris in triumph. They only
dared to occupy a tiny corner of Paris , which , into the bargain , con
sisted partly of public parks, and even this they only occupied for a
few days! And during this time they, who had maintained their en
circlement of Paris for 1 3 1 days, were themselves encircled by the
armed workers of Paris, who kept a sharp watch that no "Prussian"
should overstep the narrow bounds of the corner ceded to the
foreign conq ueror. Such was the respect which the Paris workers
inspired in the army before which all the armies of the empire had
laid down their arms; and the Prussian Junkers, who had come to
take revenge at the home of the revolution, were compelled to stand
by respectfully, and salute precisely this armed revolution!
During the war the Paris workers had confined themselves to
demanding the vigorous prosecution of the fight. B ut now, when
peace had come after the capitulation of Paris, now T hiers, the new
supreme head of the government, was compelled to realize that the
rule of the propertied classes - big landowners and capitalists -
was in constant danger so long as the workers of Paris had arms
in their hands. His first action was an attempt to disarm them. On
March 1 8 , he sent troops of the lin e with orders to rob the National
Guard of the artillery belonging to it, which had been constructed
during the siege of Paris and had been paid for by public subscrip
tion. The attempt failed; Paris mobilized as one man for resistance ,
and war between Paris and the French Govern ment sitting at Ver
sailles was declared. On March 26 the Paris Commune was elected
and on March 28 it was proclaimed. T he Central Committee of the
National Guard, which up to then had carried on the government,
handed in its resignation to the Comm une after it had first decreed
the abolition of the scandalous Paris "Morality Police." On March 30,
the Commune abolished conscription and the standing army, and
declared the sole armed force to be the National Guard, in which all
citizens capable of bearing arms were to be enrolled. It remitted all
payments of rent for dwelling houses from October 1 870 until April,
the amounts already paid to be booked as future rent payments, and
stopped all sales of articles pledged in the m unicipal loan office. On
the same day the foreigners elected to the Commune were con-
paris en raged 47
firmed in office, because "the fl ag of t h e C o m m u n e is the fl ag of the
World Repu b l i c . " O n Apri l 1 , it was d ecided that the h i g h est s a l a ry
to be received by a n y e m p l oyee of the Com m u n e , and therefore a l so
by its members t h e m s elves , was n ot to exceed 6 , 000 fra n cs (4 , 800
m a rks) . O n t h e fol lowi n g d a y t h e Com m u n e decreed the s e p a ration
of the ch u rc h from t h e state , a n d the abol ition of all state payments
fo r rel ig i o u s p u rposes as wel l as t h e tra n sformation of a l l c h u rch
p roperty i nto national p roperty; as a res u l t of which , on April 8, the
excl u s i o n from the schools of a l l rel i g io u s symbo l s , pict u re s , d og
m a s , prayers - in a word , "of a l l that b e l o n g s to the sp h e re of the
i n d iv i d u a l ' s c o n s c i e n c e " - was o rd e re d a n d g ra d u a l l y p u t i nto
effect.
On April 5, i n re p l y to t h e sh ooti n g , day after day, of captu red
C o m m u n e fig h te rs by the Vers a i l l es troo p s , a d ecree was issued for
the i m priso n m e n t of h osta g e s , b u t it was never carried i nto exe
cution . On A p r i l 6, the g u i l l oti n e was bro u g h t out by the 1 37th bat
tal io n of the N a t i o n a l G u a rd , a n d p u b l icly b u rnt, amid g reat popular
r ej o i ci n g . On A p r i l 1 2 , the C o m m u n e d e c i d ed t h a t t h e Vi ctory
Col u m n on t h e P l ace Ven d o m e , which had been cast from captu red
g u n s by N a p o l e o n after t h e war of 1 809, s h o u l d be d e m o l i s h e d as
a symbol of c h a u vi n is m a n d i ncitement to national h atred . T h i s was
carried out on M a y 1 6 . On Apri l 1 6 , it ord e red a stati stical tab u l ation
of factories w h i c h had been closed down by the man ufacturers , and
the worki n g out of p l a n s fo r the operati o n of these factories by the
workers formerly e m p loyed in th e m , who were to be organ ized i n
cooperative societie s , a n d a l so p l a n s for the organ izatio n o f these
cooperatives i nto o n e g reat u n i o n . O n Apr i l 2 0 , it a bo l i s h ed n ight
work for b a kers, a n d a l so the e m p l oyment offices, wh i c h s i n ce the
Second E m p i re had been run a s a monopoly by creatu res appoin
ted by the p o l ice-la bo r expl oiters of the fi rst ran k ; th ese offices were
tra nsferred to the mayoralties of the 20 arro n d i ssements of Paris. On
Apri l 30, i t ordered the c l os i n g of the pawnshops, on the g ro u n d that
they were a private exploitation of the worke rs , and were in contra
d icti o n with the r i g h t of the workers to t h e i r i nstru ments of labor and

48 louise michel rebel l i v e s
t o cred it. On May 5, it ordered the razing of the C hapel o f Atonement,
which had been built in expiation of the execution of Lou i s XV I .
T h u s from March 1 8 onward s the c l a s s c h a racter of the Paris
m ovement, which had prev i o u s l y b e e n pushed i nto the backg ro u n d
b y t h e fi g ht a g a i n st t h e fore i g n i n va d e rs , e m e rg e d s h a r p l y a n d
clearly. A s al most o n l y workers , or recog n ized re p resentatives o f the
workers, sat in the Comm u n e , its d e c i s i o n s bore a decidedly prole
tarian cha racter. Either these d e c i s i o n s d ecreed reforms which the
repu bl ican bourg eo i s i e h a d fai l ed to pass solely out of cowa rd ice ,
but which provi d e d a necessa ry b a s i s for t h e free activ ity of t h e
w o r k i n g c l a s s - s u c h a s t h e re a l i z a t i o n of t h e p r i n C i p l e that in
relation to the state, rel i g i o n is a p u rely private matter - or the Com
m u n e prom u l g ated decrees w h i ch were in t h e d i rect i nterest of the
working class a n d in part cut deeply i nto the old o rd e r of soci ety. I n
a beleag u e red city, however, i t was possi b l e t o m a ke a t most a sta rt
i n the rea l ization of a l l t h i s . And from t h e b eg i n n i ng of May onwards
a l l th e i r e n e rg i e s were taken up b y the fi g h t a g a i nst the a r m i e s
assembled by the Versa i l les Govern m e n t i n ever-grow i n g n u m be rs .
O n A p r i l 7 , the Versa i l l es troops h a d captu red the S e i n e crossi n g
at N e u i l ly, o n the western front o f Paris; o n t h e othe r h a n d , i n a n
a ttack on the s o u t h e r n fro nt o n A p r i l 1 1 t h e y were re p u l sed w i t h
h eavy losses by Genera l E u d e s . P a r i s was conti n u a l ly bombarded
and, moreover, by the very people who h a d sti g m atized as a sac
r i l ege the bombard m ent of the s a m e city by the P russi a n s . These
same people now begged the Pruss i a n Government for the hasty
return of the French s o l d i e rs taken prisoner at Sedan a n d M etz , i n
o rder that t h e y m i g h t reca ptu re Paris for t he m . From t h e beg i n n i n g
o f May t h e g rad u a l arrival o f these troops g ave t h e Versa i l les forces
a decided s u periority. T h i s a l ready became evident when , on April
2 3 , Th iers b roke off the negotiat i o n s for t h e excha n g e , p roposed by
t h e Com m u n e of the Arch b i s h o p of Paris and a whole n u mber of
other priests held as hostages in P a r i s , for o n l y one ma n , B l a n q u i ,
w h o had twice been e lected t o t h e C o m m u n e b u t was a prisoner i n

paris mraged 49
C l a i rvaux. A n d even m o re fro m the changed l a n g uage of T h i e rs ;
p reviously p rocrasti nati n g a n d equ ivoca l , h e n ow s u d d e n l y beca m e
i n solent, t h reate n i n g , bruta l .
T h e Vers a i l l e s forces took t h e redo u bt o f M o u l i n Saq uet o n the
southern front o n May 3 ; on M a y 9 , Fort I ssy, which had b e e n com
p l etely red u ced to rui n s by g u n fi re; o n May 1 4 , Fort Va nve s . On the
western fro n t they ad v a n ce d g ra d u a l ly, c a p t u ri n g the n u m e r o u s
vil lages a n d b u i l d i ng s w h i c h exte n d ed u p t o t h e city wal l , u ntil t h e y
reached the m a i n d efe n ses; o n May 2 1 , t h a n ks t o treache ry and the
carelessness of t h e N at i o n a l G u a rd s stat i o n e d there, t h e y s u c
ceeded i n fo rc i n g their way i n to the city. The Prussians, w h o held the
n orth e rn a n d e astern forts , a l lowed t h e Ve rs a i l l e s troops to adva n ce
across the l a n d north of the city, which was forbidden g rou n d to them
under the armistice, and t h u s to m a rch forward , attacking on a wide
front, which the Paris i a n s natu ra l l y thought covered by the a rmistice ,
a n d t h e refore h e l d o n l y weakly. As a res u l t of t h i s , o n l y a weak
resista nce was put u p i n the weste rn half of Pari s , i n the l uxury city
p roper; it g rew stro n g e r and m o re ten acious the nearer the i n coming
troops a pproached the eastern h a lf, the working-class city proper.
It was o n l y after eig ht days' fig ht i n g that the last defe n d ers of the
Com m u n e s u cc u mbed on the heig hts of B e l l evi l l e and M e n i l monta nt;
and then the m a ssacre of defenseless m e n , wo men a n d c h i l d re n ,
which h a d b e e n rag i n g a l l th ro u g h t h e week o n a n i n creas i n g sca l e ,
reached i t s z e n i t h . T h e b re e c h l o a d e rs co u l d n o lo n g e r k i l l fast
e n o ug h ; the v a n q u i s h e d were s h ot d own in h u n d reds by mitrailleuse
fi re. The "Wa l l of the Federals" at the Pere Lachaise cemetery, where
the fi nal m a s s m u rd e r was con s u m m ated , is stil l stand i n g tod ay, a
m ute but e l o q u e n t testi mony to the frenzy of which the r u l i n g class
i s ca pable a s soon a s the worki n g class d a res to sta n d u p for its
rights . The n , when the s l a u g hter of them all p roved to be i m poss i b l e ,
c a m e t h e m a s s a rrests , the s h ooting o f v i ctims arbitrarily selected
from the prison e rs' ra n k s , and the re moval of the rest to g reat cam ps
w h e re t h e y awa ited t r i a l by co u rts- m a rt i a l . T h e Pru s s i a n troops

su rrou n d i n g the northeastern h a l f of Paris had orders not to a l low
any fug itives to pass ; but the officers ofte n shut their eyes w h e n the
sol d i e rs p a i d more obed i e n ce to the d i ctates of h u m a n ity t h a n to
those of t h e S u pre m e C o m m a n d ; p a rti c u l a r h o n o r is d u e to t h e
Saxon army corps , w h i c h b e h aved very h u m a n e l y and let t h ro u g h
m a n y who were o b v i o u s l y fi g hters for t h e C o m m u n e .
F ro m : F riedrich Engels, " I ntrod uctio n " t o The Civil War in France.
L ouise Michel
life d u ri n g the Com m u ne
I n M o n t m a rt re , i n t h e 1 8 t h a rro n d i s s e m e n t , we o rg a n i z e d t h e
Montmartre Vig i l a n ce Comm itte e . Few o f i t s mem bers sti l l su rvive ,
but d u ri n g t h e siege the committee m a d e the reactionarie s tre m b l e .
Every eve n i n g , we wou l d burst out o nto the streets from o u r head
q u a rters , sometimes s i m pl y to ta l k up the revol utio n , because the
t i m e for d u p l i city had passed . We knew how l ittle the reactionary
reg i m e , in its d eath throes , val u e d its promises and the l ives of its
citizen s , and the people had to be warned .
Actua " y there were two v i g i l ance committees in Mont m a rtre , the
m e n ' s and the wome n ' s . A l th o u g h I p res i d e d over t h e w o m e n ' s
committee, I was a lways at t h e men's, because i t s members i ncluded
some Russian revo l utionaries .
I sti l l h ave a n o l d m a p of Paris t h a t h u n g on t h e wa l l of o u r
meeting roo m . I carried it back and forth across t h e ocean with m e
as a souve n i r. W i t h i n k we h a d b lotted out the empire's coat o f arms,
which desecrated it a n d which would h ave d i rtied our headquarters .
T h e m e m b e rs of t h e m e n ' s M o n t m a rtre Vi g i l a nce C o m m ittee
were remarkable pers o n s . Never have I seen minds so d i rect, so
u n p rete n t i o u s , and so el evated . Never h ave I seen ind ividuals so
clearhead e d . I don't know h ow this g ro u p m anaged to do it. There
were no w e a k n e s s e s . S o m e t h i n g g oo d a n d stro n g s u p p o rt e d
peo p l e .
T h e w o m e n were cou rageous a l s o , a n d among them , too , there
were some rem a rkable m i n d s . I belonged to both com m ittees, a n d
the l e a n i n g s of t h e two g ro u p s were the s a m e . S o m e t i m e i n t h e
futu re , the wom e n 's comm ittee s h o u l d h ave i t s own history tol d . Or
perhaps t h e two should be m i ng led , because people d i d n 't wo rry

about which s e x they were before they d i d th e i r d uty. That stu p i d
question w a s settled .
I n the eve n i n g s I often was a b l e to be at meetings of both groups,
since the wom e n ' s , which met at the offi ce of the j u stice of the peace
o n the Rue d e l a C h a pe l l e , bega n a n h o u r e a r l i e r than the m e n ' s .
T h u s after the wom e n ' s m e eti n g w a s o v e r I cou l d go to the l a s t h a l f
of t h e men's meeti n g , a n d somet i m e s othe r w o m e n and I co u l d g o
t o t h e enti re m e n ' s meeti n g .
The Montmartre Vig i l a nce C o m m ittees l eft n o one without shelter
a nd no one without food . Anyo n e co u l d eat at the meet i n g h a l l ,
a ltho u g h a s the s i e g e conti n ued a n d food s u p p l ies became shorter,
it m i g h t o n l y be one herri n g d ivided betwee n five or six peo p l e . For
people who were rea l l y in need we d i d n 't h e s i tate to dip i nto our
resou rces o r to u s e revo l ut i o n a ry req u i s i t i o n i n g . T h e 1 8th a rron
d i ssement was the terror of profiteers. When t h e reactionaries heard
the p h rase " Montm a rtre is g o i n g to come down on you , " they h i d i n
their holes. W e chased them down a n yway, a n d l i ke h u nted beasts
they fl ed , leaving b e h i n d t h e h i d i n g p laces w h e re provisions we re
rotting wh i l e Paris starved .
U ltimate l y the M o n tm a rtre Vig i l a n ce C o m m ittees were m owed
d own , l i ke a l l revo l ut i o n a ry g ro u p s . The ra re m e m bers sti l l a l ive
know how proud we we re there and how ferve ntly we flew the flag
of the revo l ution . Litt l e d i d it matter to those w h o were there whether
t h ey were beaten to the g ro u n d u n n oti ced i n battle o r d ied alone in
t h e s u n l ig h t . I t makes no d i fference h ow t h e m i l l stone moves so long
a s the bread i s m a d e .
W i t h the weakness o f t h e French Army, the people's m i litia, ca l l ed
t h e Nationa l G u a rd , took o n g reater i m po rt a n ce in the defe n s e of
Paris . Pruss i a n troops advanced t h ro u g h France to the gates of t h e
F rench ca pita l .
T h e Pruss i a n s i e g e co nti nued ; t h e days became dark a n d t h e
trees lost t h e i r leave s . H u n g e r a n d cold reached more deeply i nto
the houses of Paris.
On October 3 1 , at the H otel d e V i l l e , the people p roc l a i m ed t h e

paris enraged 53
C o m m u n e . T h e C o m m i t t e e s of Vi g i l a n ce from a l l o v e r P a r i s
org a n ized t h e d e m o n strati o n , a n d t h e p e o p l e n o longer cried out
"Long l ive t h e rep u b l i c . " They cried out "Long l ive the Com m u n e ! "
A n ot h e r m o n t h w e n t b y a n d c o n d i t i o n s b e c a m e i nc reas i n g l y
b a d . T h e N a t i o n a l G u a rd co u l d h a v e s a v e d t h e city, b u t t h e
Govern ment o f N a t i o n a l Defe n s e fea red s u p porti n g the armed force
of the peopl e .
Early i n Dece m b e r, I was arrested a second time. That second
arrest came w h e n several women who had more cou rage than fo re
s i g h t wanted to propose some u n known m e a n s of defense to the
govern ment. T h e i r zeal was so g reat that they came to the Wom e n 's
V i g i l a nce C o m m ittee i n M o n t m a rtre . . . We ag reed to join them the
next day in a d e m o n stration in front of the Hotel de Vil l e , but we
m a d e o n e res e rvati o n . We t o l d t h e m we wo u l d go as wom e n to
s h a re t h e i r d a n g e r ; we wo u l d n o t go as citizens because we n o
l o n g e r recog n i zed t h e G o v e r n m e n t o f N a ti o n a l Defe n s e . I t h a d
proved itself i ncap a b l e even o f l ett i n g Paris defe n d itself.
The n ext d a y we went to the rend ezvou s at the Hote l de Vi l l e ,
a n d w e expected w h a t h a p p e n e d : I w a s a rrested for havi n g organ
ized the d e m o n strati o n . I a n swered their c h a rges by saying that I
cou l d n 't have o rg a n ized a n y d e m o n stration to speak to t h e govern
ment, becau s e I n o l o n g e r recog n ized that government. I added that
when I ca m e on m y own b e h a l f to the H otel de Vil l e , it wo u l d be with
an a rm e d uprising behind me. That e x p l a n at i o n a p p e a red
u n satisfactory to the m , a n d t h e y l ocked me u p .
T h e next d a y fo u r citize n s ca m e t o c l a i m me " i n t h e n a m e o f the
1 8th a rron d i ss e m e n t . " At t h i s d e c l a ration , the reactionari e s became
frig htened . " M o n t m a rtre is g o i n g to descend on u s , " they w h i s pered
to each othe r, and t h e y released m e .
I t wasn't u n t i l J a n u a ry 1 9 , w h e n t h e stru g g l e was al most over,
that the Govern m e n t of N at i o n a l Defe n se fi n a l l y ag reed t o l et the
National G u a rd effect a sortie to t ry to retake Montretout and B u zen
val . At fi rst t h e National G u a rd swept the Pruss i a n s before the m , but
the m u d d efeated t h e brave s o n s of the peop l e . They san k i nto the

w e t earth u p to their a n kles , a n d u n a b l e to get their a rti l l e ry u p on
the h i l l s , they had to retreat. H u n d re d s stayed beh i n d , lying q u ietly
i n death ; these men of the Nation a l G u a rd - men of the peo p l e ,
artists, y o u n g persons - d i e d w i t h n o regrets for t h e i r lost l ives. T h e
earth d ra n k the b l ood o f th i s fi rst P a r i s i a n carnage ; s o o n it wou l d
dri n k more .
Paris sti l l d i d n ot w i s h t o s u rren d e r t o t h e Pruss i a n s . On J a n u a ry
2 2 , the people gathered i n front of t h e H ote l de Vi l l e , where General
Chaudey, who com m a n d ed the sol d i e rs , now had h i s h e a d q u a rters.
The peop l e sensed that the m e m b e rs of t h e g overn ment were l y i n g
when t h e y declared they were not t h i n k i n g of s u rrenderi n g .
W e prepared a peacefu l d e m o n stratio n , w i t h Razoua com m a n d
i ng our batta l i o n s from M o n t m a rtre . Beca u s e o u r fri e n d s who were
armed were d eterm i n e d for the d e m o n strat i o n to be peacefu l , they
withdrew with their wea p o n s , even though peacefu l demonstrations
are always crushed .
When o n l y a d isarmed m u ltitude rema i n e d , sol d i e rs i n the b u i l d
i n g s aro u n d the square o p e n e d fi re o n u s . N o s h o t w a s fi red by t h e
people before the Breton M o b i l e s fired t h e i r v o l l eys . We co u l d s e e
t h e p a l e fa ces o f t h e Breto n s b e h i n d the w i ndows, as a n o i s e l i ke
hail sou n d e d in o u r ears . Yes , you fired on u s , you u ntamed Celts ,
but at least it was you r fa ith that m a d e you fa n atics for t h e counte r
revol utio n . You weren't bought by the reacti o n a ries. You k i l led us, but
you b e l i eved y o u were d O i n g yo u r d u ty, a n d some d a y we w i l l
convert you t o o u r i d e a l s o f l i berty.
On F e b ru a ry 2 2 , t h e C o m mittees of Vig i l a n ce we re closed down ,
a nd newspaper p u b l icati o n was suspended . T h e Versai ll e s react i o n
a ries d e c i d e d they had to d i sa rm Paris. N a p o l eon I I I w a s sti l l a l i v e ,
a n d with Montmartre d isarmed , the e ntrance o f a m o n a rch , either
Bonaparte or a n Orlea n i s t , wou l d h ave favored the a rmy, which was
e ither a n acco m p l ice of t h e reacti o n a ri e s o r was a l l ow i n g itself to be
d eceived . With Montmartre d i sa rmed , t h e Prussian Army, which was
s itti ng in the s u rren d e re d forts a ro u n d P a r i s w h i l e the a r m i stice
conti nued , wou l d have b e e n p rotected .

paris enraged 55
The declaration of t h e C o m m u n e i n M a rch 1 87 1 led to ong o i n g
m i l i ta ry conflict. For th ree m o n t h s , the p e o p l e o f P a r i s res i sted t h e
forces o f G e n e ra l T h i e rs .
D u ri n g t h e e n t i re t i m e o f t h e Com m u n e , I only spent o n e n i g h t
a t my poor moth er's. I n e v e r rea l l y w e n t t o b e d d u ring that t i m e ; I j u st
n apped a l ittle whenever there was noth ing better to do, a n d many
other peo p l e l ived the s a m e way. Everybody who wanted del iver
a n ce gave h i mself tota l l y to t h e cause.
D u ring the C o m m u n e I went u n h u rt except for a bul let that g razed
my wrist, alth o u g h m y hat was l itera l l y rid d l e d with b u l let h ol e s . I d i d
tw i s t m y a n k l e , w h i c h h a d b e e n s p r a i n e d fo r a l o n g t i m e , a n d
because I cou l d n 't wa l k for th ree or fou r days, I h a d to req u isition a
ca rri a g e . . .
W h i l e I was g o i n g to Montmartre for the fu nera l , I h a d n 't dared
to stop off at m y m ot h e r ' s , because she wou l d have seen that I had
a spra i n . Several days before the fu n e ra l , thoug h , I had come fa ce
to face with h e r in the trenches near the ra i l road station of Clamart.
S h e had come to see if a l l t h e l ies I had written to soot h e her we re
tru e . Fortu nately, s h e a lways e n d ed up believing m e .
I f the rea ct i o n h a d h ad as m a n y enemies among wome n a s it d id
a m o n g m e n , t h e Ve rs a i l l e s Gove r n m e n t wou l d have h a d a more
d ifficult task s u b d u i n g u s . O u r m a l e fri e n d s a re more suscepti ble to
fai nthearte d n es s than we wom e n a re . A s u p posedly weak wom a n
knows better t h a n a n y m a n how to s a y : " I t m ust be done . " She may
feel ripped o p e n to h e r very wom b , b u t she rem a i n s u n m o ved . With
out h ate, without a n g e r, without pity for herself or others, whether her
heart bleeds o r not, she can say: "It m u st be d o n e . " Such were the
wom e n of the Com m u n e . D u ri n g B loody Week, women e rected and
defended t h e b a rrica d e at t h e P lace B l a n ch e - and held it till they
d ied .
I n my m i n d I fee l t h e soft d a rkness of a spring n i g h t . It is May
1 87 1 , and I see the red refl e ction of flames. It i s Paris afi r e . That fi re
is a d awn , a n d I see it sti l l a s I sit h e re writi n g . Memory crowds i n
on m e , a n d I k e e p fo rgett i n g t h a t I a m writin g my memo i r s .

I n the n i g h t of May 22 o r 2 3 , I believe, we were at the Montmartre
cemetery, which we were try i n g to defe n d with too few fig hters . We
had crenelated the w a l l s as best we co u l d , a n d , the position wasn't
bad except for the battery o n the B u tte of Montmartre - now i n the
hands of the reactionaries, and whose fi re raked us - the s h e l l s
we re com i n g a t reg u l a r i nte rva l s fro m the s i d e , where ta l l houses
co mma nded o u r defe n s e s . S h e l l s tore the a i r, marking time l i ke a
clock . . .
I n spite of my com rades' advice, I chose to wa l k there severa l
times . Always the s h e l l s arrived too early or too late for me. One shell
fal l i n g across the trees covered m e with flowered branches, w h i ch
I d ivided up betwee n two tom b s .
My comra d e s c a u g h t m e , a n d o n e o rd e re d m e n o t to move
a bout. They made m e sit down o n a b e n c h . But noth i n g is as stub
born as a wo m a n . In the m id st of all t h i s , J a ro s l av D o m b rowski
passed i n front of us sadly, o n h i s way to b e k i l l e d . " I t's over, " h e told
me. "No, no," I said to him, and h e held out both h i s hands to m e . But
h e was right.
T h re e h u n d re d t h o u s a n d vo i c e s had e l e cted t h e C o m m u n e .
F ifteen thousa n d stood u p t o t h e c l a s h with t h e a rmy d u ri n g B l oody
Week.
We've cou nted a bout 3 5 , 0 0 0 p e o p l e who were executed , but
h ow many were there that we know noth i n g of? From time to t i m e
t h e earth d i sgorges its corpses. I f we are i m placable i n the com i n g
fight, w h o is to blame?
The Com m u n e , s u rro u n d e d fro m every d i recti o n , had only death
on its horizo n . It cou l d only b e b ra v e , and it was. And i n dying it
o pened wide the door to the fut u re . T h at was its desti ny.
F ro m : Lou i s e Miche l , Memoires (Trans. -Ed. )

Louise Michel
Letter to t h e M ayor of Montmartre ,
Georges Clemenceau
Sir,
Our Women's Republican Vigilance Committee in the 1 8th arron
dissement is wanting to play its part in our patriotic task.
Given the people's poverty, and no long';!r able to bear the sight
of babes-in-arms who are dying of hunger, I ask y o u to take the
following initiatives :
• Launch an immediate inq uiry in each house in the 1 8th

arrondissement , in order to determine the n umber of old
people, infirm and children.
• Immediately requisition all abandoned housing in the 1 8th

arrondissement , in order to house all homeless citizens and
establish shelters where children can be fed.
• That all wine and coal in the cellars of abando ned houses
immediately be made available for the use of the infirm and
sick.
• The complete abolition within the 18th arrondissement of all

brothels and wor khouses for young girls.
• Melt down the Bells of Montmartre to make cannon.
The acting president,
Louise Michel
24 rue Oudot, Montmartre

L ouise Michel
Lette r to the Ed itors of La Sociale news paper
The women volunteering as ambulance drivers for t h e Paris Com
m u n e would like to take a moment to salute y ou.
They hope t hat you would publis h the following declaration
because , at t h is moment , t he person w h o does not affirm their
position, like one who flees from conflict, is a coward:
The ambulance workers of the Commune declare that they do not
belong to any association w hatever. They live their lives entirely for
the revolution. Their duty, even on the very field of battle , is to dress
the wounds made by the poisoned bullets from Versailles , or as the
h our requires, to take up a rifle like all the others.
In the case that the reaction triump hs - and we hope that this
wil l never happen - their duty , which t hey will never forget, is to set
fire to the gunpowder. W herever t his happens, the revolution must
never be defeated.
Long live the Commune!
Long live the universal republic!
The volunteer ambulance workers of the Commune ,
Louise Michel, Fernandez , Goull e , Poulain, Quartier Dauguet.
Xaviere Gauthier (ed . ) , Louise Michel,

je vous ecris de rna nuit. (Trans. -Ed. )
chapter fou r: When the Women Decide
They Have Had Enough
Throughou t the Commune, women organized themselves in local com

munity associations. Louise Michel played a leading role in mobilizing
women in support of the Commune. But in her Memoirs, Michel down
played her own leadership role as chair of the Women 's Vigilance Committee
during the Commune's period of rule.
On April 1 1, 1 8 71, just weeks after the seizure of power by the Com
mune, a group of women issued "A call to the women citizens of Paris. "
The pamphlet called for the creation of women 's associations around Paris,
and led to the formation of the Union des Femmes pour la Defense de Paris
et les Soins aux Blesses (Association of Women for the Defense of Paris and
Aid to the Wounded). Key leaders included Nathalie Lemel (later exiled to
New Caledonia with Louise Michel), and a young Russian activist, Elisabeth
Dmitriejf, who was a member of Karl Marx's First International. Dmitriejf
was influential in bringing women 's demands to the Commune, seeking
resources so that women could organize for themselves.
Women activists like Dmitriejf moved beyond basic demands to put
forward socialist proposals to the leaders of the Paris Commune. They called
for the implementation of the decree on abandoned workshops, issued by the
Commune on April 1 6, so tha t women could find work in factories
abandoned by bourgeois owners fleeing the revolution.
In her classic s tudy Women, Resistance and Revolution, English
feminist Sheila Rowbotham argues that their experience in the Commune
pushed Parisian women toward a feminist view of the world.
Louise Michel
On women's rig hts
In 1 870, the first o rganizatio n of the Rig hts of Women had beg u n to
meet on the Rue Thevenot. At the meetin gs of the Rig hts of Women
g roup, and at other meeti ngs, the most advanced men applauded
the idea of equality. I noticed - I h a d seen it befo re, and I saw it later
- that men, their declarations notwithsta n d ing, although they ap
peared to help us, were always co ntent with j ust the appearance.
This was the result of custom and the fo rce of old prejudices, and it
convi nced me that we women m ust s i mply take our place without
begging for it. . .
The iss u e of po l itical rig hts is d ea d . E q u a l education, e q u a l
t rades, so that prostitution would n o t b e t h e o n l y l ucrative professio n
open to a wo man - that is what was rea l in o u r p ro g ra m . The
Russian revo lutionaries are right: evol ution is ended and now revo l
ution i s necessary o r t h e butterfly w i l l d i e i n its cocoon .
Heroic women were found i n a l l social classes . At the profess ion
al schoo l, wo men of a l l social levels met together, and a l l wo u l d
have prefe rred to d i e rathe r than s u rre n d e r. T h e y o rg a n ized the
Society for the Victi ms of the War. They d ispensed their resou rces the
best way they cou l d, while demanding that Paris resist, and conti nue
to resist, the Prussian siege . . .
Later, when I was a prisoner, the first visito r I had was Madame
Meurice fro m the Society for the Victims of the War. At my last trial,
behind the handpicked spectato rs, I spotted the shining eyes of two
other former members of the society a mo n g those who had man
a ged to squeeze i n .
I salute a l l those brave women of the va nguard who were d rawn
from group to g roup: the Women's Vigilance Co mmittee, the women's
when the women decide... 61
associations, and later the Leag ue of Women. The old world ought
to fear the day when those women finally decide they have had
enough. Those women will not slack off. Strength fi nds refuge i n
them. Beware o f them!
Beware of those who go across Europe waving the flag of lib
erty, and beware of the most peaceful daughter of Gaul now asleep
in the dee p resignation of the fields . Beware of the women when
they are sickene d by all that is around them and rise up against the
old world. On that day the new world will beg in.
F ro m : The Red Virgin - Memoirs of Louise Michel.

Extracts from P a rt O n e , X-XIV.
Parisian Women
A cal l to the women c itizens of Paris
(Apri l 1 1 , 1 871 )
. . . The fratricidal madness that has taken possession of France, this

duel unto death, is the final act in the e ternal antagonism between
rig h t and might, labor and exploitation, the people and their tyrants!
The privile ged classe s of the pre sent so cial orde r are our
en emies; those who have lived by o ur labor, thriving on our want.
Th ey have seen the people rise up, demanding: "No obligations
without rights! No rights without obligations! We want to work but we
also wan t the product of our work. N o more e xploiters. No more bos
ses. Work and security for all - The people to govern themselves
- We want the Commune; we want to live in freedom or to die
fighting for it! " . . .
Women of Paris, the decisive hour has come. The old world must
come to an end! We want to be free! And France has not risen up
alone. The civilized nations of the world have their e yes on Paris.
They are waiting for our victory to free themselves in their turn. . .
[signed]
A group of Parisian women
NOTI C E :
We invite patriotic women citizens to mee t today, Tuesday, April 11 . . .
in order to take concrete measures toward the formation of commit

tees, in each arrondissement, aimed at o rganizing a women's move
ment for the defense of Paris, in the e ve nt that reaction and its
gen darmes should attempt to capture it.
We require the active collaboration of all the women of Paris who
when the women decide. . . 63
rea lize that the salvation of our capital depends on the outcome of
this conflict; who know that the p resent socia l order bea rs i n itself
the seeds of poverty and the death of freedom and of j u stice ; who
therefore welcome the advent of the rei g n of labor and of eq uality
a n d are prepared at t h e h o u r of peril to fig h t and to d i e for the
triumph of this revolutio n , for which our brothers are sacrificing their
l ives!
Fro m : Journal Officiel (Commune). April 1 1 , 1 87 1 .

Women Citizens of Paris
Request for organizational assistance from the
Commune
To: Executive Commission of the Paris Commune
April 14, 1871
Considering:
That it is the duty and the right of everyone to fight for the sacred
cause of the people, that is, for the revolution;
That danger is imminent and that the enemy are at the gates of
Paris;
That union makes strength; in time of danger all individual efforts
must combine to form a collective, invincible resistance by the whole
population;
That the Commune - representing the principle of extinction of
all privilege and all inequality - should therefore consider all legi
timate grievances of any section of the population without discri
mination of sex, such discrimination having been made and en
forced as a means of maintaining the privileges of the ruling classes;
That the success of the present conflict, whose aim is to put an
end to corruption, and ultimately to regenerate society by ensuring
the rule of labor and justice, is of as much significance to the women
as it is to the men of Paris;
That many among them are resolved that in the event of the
enemy breaking into Paris, they will fight to the finish in defense of
our common rights;
That effective organization of this revolutionary element into a
vigorous defensive force for the Paris Commune can only be ach
ieved with concrete aid from the government of the Commune itself;
Consequently, the delegates of the women citizens of Paris
request the Executive Commission of the Commune:
1. To order all district town halls to make available in each district
a room that can serve as headquarters of the committees;
2. To request that they provide large premises for meetings of
women citizens;
3. To have the Commune subsidize the printing of circulars,
posters and notices that these committees decide to distribute.
For the members of the Central Committee of Women Citizens,
[Signed by seven women workers and E. Dmitrieff]
From: Journal Officiel (Commune). April 14, 1871.

Elisabeth Dmitrieff
Letter from the Association of Women
to the Com m u ne's Com m ission of Labor
and Exchange
The Association of Women have considered the fol lowin g :

There is o n l y one w a y o f reorganizing l a b o r so that t h e prod ucer i s
g uaranteed t h e product o f h i s o w n work, a n d that is b y setti ng up
free producer associations which will share out the profits from the
various i n dustries.
The setting up of these associations wou l d put an end to the
exploitation and enslavement of labor by capita l , and would at last
g uarantee the workers the management of their own affairs. It would
simultaneously facil itate u rgently needed reforms, in both prod uction
and producer rel ationships, to include the fol l owing points :
1 ) Variety o f work in each trade - conti n ually repeated manual
movement damages both mind a n d body.
2) A reduction i n worki ng hours - physical exhaustion inevitably
destroys man's s p i ritual qualities.
3) An end to a l l com petitio n between male and female workers
- their interests are identical and their solidarity is essential to the
success of the fi nal worldwide stri ke of labor against capita l .
The association therefore wants:
1 ) Equal pay for equal hours of work.
2) A local and i nternational fed e ration of the various trade sec
tions in order to ease the m ovement and exchange of goods by
centralizing the international i nterests of the producers .
T h e general development o f these producer associations requ i res:
1 ) I nform ing and organizing the workin g masses . . . The conse-
q u ence of t h i s wil l be that every association m e m ber will b e expec
ted to belong to t h e Internatio n a l Working Men's Association .
2) State assista nce in advancing t h e necessary credit fo r setting
up these associatio n s : loans repaya ble in yearly instalments at a
rate of five p e rcent.
The reorga n ization of fem a l e l a bor is an extre mely urg e n t matter,
when one con sid e rs that in the society of the past it was the most
exploited form of a l l .
Faced b y t h e p resent events , with poverty increasing a t a n alarm
i n g rate , a n d seeing t h e u nwa rranted h a l t in a l l work , it is to be
fea red that t h e wom e n of Pa ris , who h ave become m o m entarily
revol utionary in s pirit, m a y a s a res u l t of the state of conti n u a l priva
tio n , rel a pse into the m o re or less reaction a ry and passive position
which the socia l ord e r of the past ma rked out for the m . T h at wou l d
b e a d i s a s t ro u s s t e p b a c kw a r d s w h i c h wo u l d en d a n g e r t h e
revo l u tio n a ry a n d i n t e r n atio n a l i n t e rests of t h e wo r ki n g c l a s s ,
thereby e n d a n g e ring t h e Com m u n e .
F o r t h e s e reasons t h e Central Committee o f t h e Ass ociation of
Wo men req u ests t h e Com m u n e ' s Com mission on Labor and Ex
change to entrust it with t h e reo rganization and allocation of work
for the wom e n of Pa ris , in the first instance provid ing the a ssociation
with p rod u ction of military s u pplies.
This work wil l natu ra l l y not be sufficient for the majority of working
wom e n , s o in a d d ition t h e Central Co mmittee req uests t h e co m mis
sion to place at the disposal of t h e fed e rated p rod ucer associations
the sums of money necessary for the working of the factories and
works h o p s a b a n d o n e d b y t h e b o u rgeois a n d com p r i s i n g t h o s e
crafts main ly practised by wom e n , like :
B r u s h - m a ki n g
B a n d a g e - m akin g
H a b e rd a s h e ry
Passementerie (tri m m i n g s )
Flower and p l u m e work
E m b ro i d e ry
Asse mbly of umbre l l a s , straw hats, bann ers and fl ags
Cap-making
I l l u m i n ating
F a n - m a k i ng
Ty pog ra p h i n g
Ty pesett i n g
Coloring
M a k i n g o f pasteboa rd a rticles
G l ass blowi ng ( p e a r l s )
Butto n - m a k i n g
M i l l i n e ry
L i n g e r i e ( u n d ercloth i n g )
Boo k-stitc h i n g
Book b i n d i n g
Lau ndering
Ke n n e l -wo r k
Porce l a i n -pa i n t i n g
Corset- m a k i n g
Wreath - m a k i n g
W a i stcoat-m a k i n g
D o l l - d re s s i n g
Tie-making
F o r t h e Executive Commissio n ,
T h e Secretary General E . Dmitrieff.

chapte r five : The First Dress
Rehearsal in World History
The Paris Commune, which only lasted between March and May 1 8 71, has
taken on legendary importance for a range of anarchists, socialists and
communists. Karl Marx published his famous pamphlet The Civil War in
France just days after the Commune was crushed, and the revolt of the
Paris workers was later analyzed by theoris ts from differen t political
traditions.
Here are some excerpts about the Commune by Karl Marx and Friedrich
Engels, authors of The Communist Manifesto; anarchist leaders Peter
Kropotkin and Mikhail Bakunin; English artist and socialist William Morris;
V.I. Lenin, leader of the Russian Bolshevik Party; and contemporary social
ists and historians like Howard Zinn, Paul Foot and Sheila Rowbotham.
All these writers and political activists celebrate the Commune as the
first major example of a workers ' government - but they draw different
lessons about the role of political organization, how workers can organize
themselves, and whether to abolish the institutions of the state.
Karl Marx
The working class d i d not expect m i racles from the Commune. They
have no ready-made utopias to introd uce. They know that in order
to work out their own emancipation , and along with it that higher form
to which present society is i rresistibly ten d i ng by its own econom ical
agencies, they will have to pass th ro u g h lon g struggles, thro u g h a
series of h i storic processes , tra n sforming circumstances and men.
They have n o ideals to realize, but to set free the ele ments of the
new society with which the old co llapsing bourgeois society itself is
p regnant. . .
W h e n the Paris Com m u n e too k t h e m a n agement of the rev
o l ution i n its own hands; when p l a i n working men for the fi rst time
d a red to i nfri nge u pon the governmental privi l ege of their "natural
s u periors" a n d , under circumstances of u n exampled difficulty, per
formed their work modestly, co nscientiously and efficiently . . . the old
world writhed i n convulsio n s of rag e at the sight of the red flag , the
symbol of the republic of labo r, floating over the Hotel de Vil l e .
And yet, t h i s was t h e first revo l ution i n w h i c h t h e workin g class
was o p e n l y acknowl e d g e d as the o n l y c l a s s capable of s o c i a l
i n itiative, even b y t h e g reat b u l k of the Paris m i d d l e class - shop
keepers , trades men , merch ants - the wealthy ca p ita l i sts alone
excepted .
F ro m : Karl M a rx , The Civil War in France .

Friedrich Engels
From the very outset t h e C o m m u n e was compelled to recog n ize that
the work i n g c l a s s , o n ce co m e to power, could not go on m a n a g i n g
w i t h t h e o l d state m a ch i n e ; t h a t i n order n o t to l ose aga i n i t s o n l y
j u st-conquered s u p re macy, t h i s working class m ust, on the one h a n d ,
d o a w a y w i t h a l l t h e o l d r e p r e s s i v e m a ch i n e ry p rev i o u s l y u s e d
agai n st i t , a n d , o n t h e oth e r, safe g u a rd itself agai nst its o w n d e p u
t i e s and offi c i a l s , b y decl a r i n g them a l l , without excepti o n , s u bject
to recal l at a n y m o m e n t .
W h a t h a d been t h e cha racteristic attri b ute of the former state?
Society had created its own o rg a n s to look after its com m o n i nter
ests , orig i n a l l y thro u g h s i m p l e d ivision of l a bor. But these org a n s , at
whose h e a d was t h e state power, h a d i n t h e cou rse of t i m e , i n
p u rs u a n ce o f t h e i r o w n special i nterests , transformed t h e m s e l ves
from the servants of society i nto the m asters of society.
This can be seen , for exa m p l e , not o n l y in the hereditary monar
chy, but e q u a l l y so i n the d e m ocratic rep u b l i c . N owhere do "poli
ticians" form a more separate a n d powe rfu l section of the nation than
precisely in N o rt h A m e r i c a . There, each of t h e two m aj o r p a rties
which alternately s ucceed each other i n power i s itself i n turn con
tro l l ed by people who m a ke a b u s i ness of pol itics, who specul ate
on seats in the l e g i s l ative assembl ies of the u n io n as wel l as of the
separate state s , or w h o m a ke a l iving by ca rrying on a g itation for
their party a n d on its victory a re rewa rded with positions . It is well
known how the Americans h ave been trying for 30 years to shake
off th i s yoke , w h i c h h a s become i ntol e ra b l e , a n d how i n spite of it
a l l they conti n u e to s i n k ever deeper in this swamp of corruptio n .
I t i s preci sely i n N o rth America that w e see best how there takes
pl ace this p rocess of the state power m a k i n g itself ind ependent in
relation to society, whose m e re i n stru ment it was orig i n a l l y i ntended

to be . Here there exists no dynasty, n o n o b i l i ty, no sta n d i n g arm y,
beyond the few men keepi n g watch on t h e I nd i a n s , no b u reaucracy
with permanent posts or the right to p e n s i o n s . And nevertheless we
find here two great g a n g s of political specu l ators, who alternate l y
take possession o f the state power a n d e x p l o i t it by the m o s t corrupt
means and for the most corru pt e n d s - and the nation is powerl ess
against these two great ca rtel s of pol iticia n s , who are ostensibly its
servants , but i n rea l ity d o m in ate a n d p l u n d e r it.
F rom: Friedrich Engels, " I ntroduction" to The Civil War in France.

Mikhail Bakunin
I am a s u p porter of t h e Pa ris Com m u n e , which for a l l the blood
l etting it suffered at t h e h a n d s of the monarchical and clerica l reac
tion , has nonetheless g rown m o re e n d u ring and more powerful i n
t h e hearts a n d minds o f t h e Eu ropean proletariat. I a m its s u p porter,
a bove a l l , beca u s e it was a bol d , clearly form u lated n egation of the
state . It is i m m e n sely sig n ificant that this re bel lion against t h e state
h a s taken p l a c e in F ra n ce , w h ich h a d been hith e rto th e l a n d of
p o l itical c e n t r a l ization p a r exce l l e n c e , a n d that it was p recis e l y
Paris , t h e l e a d e r a n d t h e fou ntainhead o f the g reat F rench civiliza
tio n , which took the initiative in t h e Commu n e .
The s m a l l g ro u p o f convinced socia lists who participated i n the
Com mune were in a very difficu l t position . While th ey felt the lack of
support from the g reat m asses of the people of Paris , a n d w h i l e the
o rg a n ization of t h e I n te r natio n a l Working M e n's Associatio n , itself
imperfect, com p rised h a rdly a few thousand persons, they had to
keep up a d aily stru g g l e a g ai n st the Jacobin m ajority. In t h e midst
of the conflict, they h a d to fee d and provid e work for severa l thous
a n d worke rs , orga nize a n d arm them , and keep a sharp l ookout for
the doings of t h e reaction a ries . Al l this in an immense city l ike Paris ,
besieged , facing t h e th reat of starvation , and prey to al l the shady
intrig ues of t h e reaction , which managed to establish itse l f in Ver
sail les with t h e permission a n d by the g race of the Prussia n s . They
had to set u p a revo l u tion a ry g overnment and army against the gov
ernment and army of Vers ai l l e s ; in ord e r to fig ht the monarch i st and
clerica l reaction they were compelled to organize themselves i n a
Jacobin m a n n e r , fo rg etti n g or sa crificing t h e first co n d ition s of
revol utionary social i s m . . .
Contra ry to t h e b e lief of a uthoritaria n com m u nists - which I
deem comp l etel y wro n g - that a social revol ution must be decreed
and organized either by a d ictatorship or by a con stituent asse m b l y
emerging from a politica l revo l u tion , o u r frien d s , the Paris socia lists ,
b e l i eved that revol ution coul d neit h e r be m a d e nor bro u g h t to its fu l l
development except by the sponta n eo u s a n d continued action of the
masses , the g ro u ps and t h e association s of the people. Our Pa ris
fri e n d s were rig ht a t h o u s a n d tim e s over . . . the soc i a l revo l ution
should end by g ra nting fu l l liberty to the masses, the g ro u p s , the
com m u n e s , the associ atio n s a n d to the i n d ividua l s a s w e l l ; by
d estroying once and for a l l the h istoric cause of a l l violence, which
i s the power and indeed the m e re existe n ce of the state . Its fa l l wil l
bring down with it a l l the i n e q u ities o f t h e l a w a n d a l l the lies o f the
vari o u s re l i g io n s , since both law and relig i o n have never b e e n
an yt hing but t h e com pul s o ry c o n secratio n , id e a l a n d rea l , of a l l
viole nce re presented , g u a ranteed a n d p rotected by the state .
From: Mikhail Aleksandrovich Baku n i n ,

The Paris Commune a n d the Idea o f the State
( N ew York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1 87 1 ) .
William Morris
It should be noted that the risings which too k place in oth e r towns
in F rance were not so much va n q u ished by the strength of the bour
geoisie, which at fi rst fo u n d itself powerl ess before the p eople, but
rather fel l thro u g h owi n g to a want of fu ller develo pment of socia l ism
and a more vigoro us p roclamation of its princi ples.
The whole revol t was at last d rowned i n the blood of the wor
kers of Paris . Certa i n l y the i m mediate result was to crush socia l ism
fo r the time by t h e d estru ctio n of a whole generation of i ts most
determi ned recru its . Nevertheless the very vio l ence and excess of
the bourgeois revenge have, as we can now see, tended to strength
en the prog ress of soci a l is m , as they have set the seal of tragedy
and heroism on the m ixed events of the Co m m u n e , and made its
memory a rallying poi n t for a l l future revo l ution ists .
Fro m : W i l l i a m Morris , "The Paris Com m u n e of 1 87 1 ,
a n d the Contin ental Movement Followi n g I t , "
Socialism From The Roots Up ( i n Commonweal,
Vo l u me 2, No. 3 8 , October 2, 1 88 6 ) 2 1 0 .
Peter Krop otkin
The Com mune of 1 87 1 cou l d be noth i n g but a fi rst attempt. Beg i n

n i n g a t t h e close of a war, h e m m e d i n between two armies ready to
join hands and crush the peo p l e , it d a red not u n hes itati ngly set forth
upon the path of economic revoluti o n ; it neither boldly decl a red itself
soci a l ist, nor p roceed e d with t h e e x p ro p riation of capital or the
o rg a n izati o n of l a bor. It did not eve n take stock of the g e n e ra l
resou rces of the city. N o r d i d it brea k with t h e trad ition of the state ,
of re presentative govern ment. It d i d n ot seek to establish with i n the
Commune that organ ization from the s i m p l e to the co m plex which
it inaugurated by procl a i m i n g the i n d e p e n d ence and free federation
of the com munes. Yet it i s certa i n that if the Paris Commune had
l ived a few months longer it wo u l d i n evitably have been d riven by
the force of circumstances towa rd both these revolutions.
Let us not forget that the bourgeoisie took four years of a revol
u ti o n a ry period t o c h a n g e a l i m ited m o n a rchy i nto a b o u rg e o i s
republic, and w e should n ot be asto n i s hed t h a t t h e people o f Paris
d i d not cross with a single bound the s pace between the a n a rchist
Commune and the government of robbers . But let us also bea r i n
m i n d that the n ext revolution , which i n France and certa i n l y i n Spain
a s well will be com m u n a l ist, will t a k e u p t h e work of the P a r i s
Commune where it was checked by the massacres o f t h e Versa i lles
Army.
The Commune was d efeated , a n d too w el l we know how the
middle class avenged itself for the scare g iven it by the people when
they shook thei r rulers' yoke loose upon their necks . It proved that
there really a re two classes in o u r modern society; on o n e side, the
man who works and yields u p to the m o n o pol ists of property more
than half of what he prod uces a n d yet l i g htly passes over the wrong
the first dress rehearsal in world history 77
do ne h i m by h is masters ; on the other, the idler, the spoi l e r, hati ng

h is sl ave, ready to kill him l i ke game, ani mated by the most savage
i nstincts as soo n as he is menaced i n h is possession.
F ro m : Peter Kropotki n , ''The Com m u n e of Pari s , "
Freedom Pamphlets No. 2 (London : W. Reeve s , 1 8 95).
Based o n the orig i n a l French version p u b lished i n
L e Revolte, M a rc h 2 0 , 1 88 0 .
V.l. Lenin
Forty years have passed s i n c e t h e p rocl a m ation of the Paris Com
mune. In accorda nce with tra d ition , t h e French workers paid homage
to the memory of the m e n and wo m e n of t h e revol ution of M a rch 1 8 ,
1 87 1 , by meeti ngs and d e m o n strat i o n s . At t h e end of May they w i l l
a g a i n place wreaths o n the g raves o f t h e C o m m u n a rds w h o were
s hot, the victi ms of the terri b l e " M a y Wee k , " and over t h e i r g raves
they will once more vow to fig h t u n t i ri n g l y u n t i l their ideas have tri
u m p hed a n d the cause they b e q ueathed has been fu l l y achi eved . . .
[ I ] n spite of its brief existence, t h e Com m u n e managed to p ro m u l
g ate a few measures w h i c h suffi c i e n t l y c h a racterize i t s r e a l s i g n ifi
cance and a i m s . The Com m u n e d i d away with the sta n d i n g a rmy,
that b l i n d weapon in the h a n d s of the ru l i n g c l asses , and a rmed t h e
w h o l e peop l e . I t p roc l a i m e d t h e s e p a ra t i o n of c h u rch a n d state ,
a bo l i s h ed state payme nts to rel i g i o u s bod i e s (L e . , state s a l a ri e s for
p riests ) , made p o p u l a r e d u ca t i o n p u re l y s e c u l a r, a n d i n t h i s way
stru ck a severe blow at the g e n d armes in cassocks . In the p u re l y
social s phere the Com m u n e acco m p l is h e d very l i ttle , but this l ittl e
neverthe l ess clearly reveal s i t s c h a ra cter a s a p o p u l a r, workers' gov
e rn ment. N i g ht work in bakeries was forb i d d e n ; the system of fi n e s ,
wh ich represented legal ized rob b e ry of t h e workers , w a s a b o l i s h e d .
F i n a l ly, there w a s the fa m o u s d e c re e that a l l facto ries a n d work
s hops abandoned or shut down by t h e i r own e rs were to be turned
over to associations of workers that were to resu m e prod u ctio n . And ,
a s i f t o e m p h a s ize its chara cter a s a tru l y d e m ocratic, p ro l eta r i a n
g overnment, t h e Com m u n e d ecreed that t h e s a l a ries o f a l l a d m i n is
t rative and g o ve r n m e n t offi c i a l s , i rrespective of ra n k , s h o u l d not
exceed the normal wages of a worker, and in no case amount to
more tha n 6 , 000 fra ncs a yea r ( less than 200 ru bles a month ) .
Al l these measures showed c l e a r l y e n o u g h that t h e C o m m u n e

was a dead ly menace to the old world fou nded on the enslavement
a n d exploitation of the p eo p l e . That was why bou rgeois society
coul d not fee l at ease so long as the Red Flag of the prol etariat
waved over the Hotel de Vil l e in Pari s . And when the o rg a nized
forces of the govern m e n t fi n a l l y succeeded i n gaining the u pper
hand over the poorly org a nized forces of the revolution, the Bona
partist generals . . . o rg a n ized such a slaughter as Paris had never
known . About 30, 000 Parisians were shot down by the bestial sold
iery, and about 45 ,000 were a rrested , many of whom were after
wards executed , w h i l e thousands were transported or exi l ed . In a l l ,
Paris lost about 1 00 , 000 o f its best people, including some o f the fi n
est workers i n all trades . . .
The memory of the fig hters of the Com mune is honored not only
by the workers of France but by the proletariat of the whole worl d .
F o r t h e Comm u n e fou g ht, n o t for some local or narrow national a i m ,
b u t for t h e e m a ncipation of a l l toi l i n g human ity, o f all t h e d owntrod
den and oppresse d . As a foremost fighter for the social revo lution ,
the Com m u n e has won sympathy wherever there is a proletariat
suffering and engaged in strugg l e . The epic of its l ife and death , the
sight of a workers' g overn ment which seized the capital of the world
and held it for over two months, the spectacle of the heroic strugg l e
o f the p roletariat a n d the torments it und erwent after its d efeat - a l l
t h i s raised the s p i rit o f m i l lions of workers, aroused their h o p e s a n d
enlisted their sympathy for t h e cause o f socialism. The thu nder o f the
cannon i n Paris awakened the most backward sections of the prole
tariat from their deep s l u m ber, and everywhere gave impetus to the
g rowth of revol utionary socialist propaganda. That is why the cause
of the Com m u n e is not d ead . It l i ves to the present day in every one
of us . . .
Fro m : V. 1 . Len i n & Karl Marx, Th e Civil War in France:
The Paris Commune , (New York: I nternational Pu blishers , 1 940).

Howard Zinn
There is still a widespread popular belief, heavily stressed on the

Readers ' Digest level, that Marxism believes in the supremacy of the
state over the ind ividual , while democracy believes the op posite. I n
fact, the existence of opp ressively overbearing states i n the worl d ,
wh ich ca l l themselves M a rx i s t , re i n fo rces t h i s i d e a . B u t a t r u e
rad i c a l i s m wo u l d remi n d p e o p l e i n b o t h soci a l i st a n d capita l ist
cou ntries of M a rx's and E n g e l s ' h o p e , e x p ressed e a r l y i n t h e
[Communist] Manifesto, t h a t some day "the public power will lose its
political character" and "we s h a l l have an association in which the
free development of each is the condition for the free development
of all." This is not just a youthful a berration (there is a fad about the
young romantic Marx and the old , practical M a rx) beca use 27 years
later, Marx , i n his Critique of the Gotha Program, says: " Freedo m
consists i n converting t h e state from a n org a n superi mposed upon
soci ety i nto one completel y subord i n ate to it." H ere also he says, on
the subject of the state g iving education to the people, "the state has
need , on the contrary, of a very stern ed ucation by the people . " And
Engels, a year after Marx's death , i n 1 884, writes i n his Origin of the
Family, Private Property and the State :
The society that wi l l organize production on the basis of a free

and equal association of the p rod uce rs wil l put the whole
machinery of state where it will then belong: into the museum
of antiquities, by the side of the spinning wheel and the bronze
axe.
Their attitude to the state is mad e even cleare r and more specifi c in
Marx's book on The Civil War in France, and Engels' " I ntrod uction"
to it; where both of them point a d m i ri n g l y to the Paris Commune of
early 1 87 1 . T h e C o m m u n e a l most i m m ed iately abolished co n s crip

tion and the sta n d i n g army; declared u n i versal suffrage and the right
of citizens to reca l l their e l e cted officials at any time; said all officials,
h i g h or l ow, should be p a i d t h e same wage as rece ived by other
workers, a n d p u b l i cly b u rn e d the g u i l l oti n e .
The N ew L e ft i s a n ti-authoritari a n ; it WOU l d , I expect , b u rn d raft
card s i n any society. I t is a n a rc h i st i c not j u st i n wanti n g t h e u l ti mate
abol ition of t h e state , but i n its i m m ed i ate req u i rement that authority
and coercion be b a n i s h e d in every sphere of existence, t h at the e n d
m ust b e represented i m m ed i atel y i n t h e mea n s . Marx a n d B a k u n i n
d isagreed o n t h i s , b u t the New L e ft h a s t h e advantage o v e r M a rx of
having an extra centu ry of h istory to stud y. We see how a d i ctatorship
of the proletariat can easi l y become a d i ctators h i p over the p role
tariat, as Trotsky warn e d , a s Rosa Luxem b u rg wa rned . T h e New Left
s h o u l d re m i n d the soci a l i s t states as wel l as the capita l i s t states of
M a rx's letter of 1 853 to the Ne w York Tribune saying he d id n 't know

h ow capital p u n i s h m e n t c o u l d be j ustified " i n a society g lo ry i n g i n
its civil izati o n . "
Fro m : H oward Zi n n , "The N ew Radica l i s m , "
The Howard Zinn Reader

Writings on Disobedience and Democracy
( N e w York: Seven Stories , 1 997).
Paul Foot
M i l l io n s o f word s have b e e n written a b o u t t h e Com m u n e b u t the
m ost exh i l arating a n d accu rate acco u n t i s sti l l that of Karl M a rx . His
Civil War in France, w h i c h h e w rote as the Comm u n e was being
d efeated , a n d which includes a g lorious passage of s u stai n e d i n vec
t i ve ag a i n st Thiers, is one of t h e clearest and most passion ate politi
cal pa m p h l ets ever writte n . I t i s i m poss i b l e to read it 1 30 years later

without being i n s p i red by the v i s i o n and a p p l i cation of the C o m m u
n a rd s , whose s i m p l e a s p i ra ti o n s con trast so g rote s q u e ly w i t h t h e
c o m p lace nt a n d corr u p t b e h a v i o r of m o d e r n p o l i t i c i a n s o n both
s i des of the [ E n g l i s h) C h a n n e l .
The o bjection to parl i a m en t a ry d e m ocracy is not that it is d e m o
cratic or representative, but that it is n oth i n g l i ke democratic or re pre
s e n tative e n o u g h . The revo l u t i o n a ry writer and fig h te r Karl M a rx
w rote 1 30 years a g o a b o u t t h e revo l u t i o n a ry Paris Com m u n e i n

1 87 1 . H e n oted t h ree central featu res . F i rst, i t was freely el ected by
a majority. Second , its rep resentatives got the same wages as the
people who elected the m . A n d t h i rd , t h e e lected govern ment formed
the executive a s we l l as the l e g i s l ative power. That means that it not
o n l y passed the l aws , u s u a l ly in t h e form of d ecrees , but also carried
them out. The forms of the new powe r made it poss i b l e to convert
p o l itical promises i nto p o l i tical a cti o n .
S i m i l a r alternatives t o o rd i n a ry p a r l i a m e ntary i n stitutio n s have
o ccu rred again and ag a i n t h ro u g h t h e 20th century - i n Russia in
1 905 and 1 9 1 7 , i n Germ a n y and H u ng a ry i n 1 9 1 9 a n d the e n s u i n g

y e a r s , i n Spain i n 1 936, i n H u n ga ry i n 1 956 , a n d i n Portugal i n 1 974 .
I n the best cases workers th rew u p o rg a n izati o n s based on e lected
counci l s , with t h e i r re p resentatives p a i d the s a m e a n d s u bj e ct to
i n stant reca l l . These cou n c i l s were m o re effi c i e nt and effective repre
s entatives than their parl i a m entary e q u i va l e n ts beca use they were
m o re d e m ocrat i c . They for m e d t h e m s e l ves q u ite natura l l y i n t h e

stru g g l e for e m a n c i p a t i o n by t h e explo ited masses. A n d they a l l
emerged a t t i m e s o f revol u ti o n . T h e reason for that is v e ry s i m p l e .
The existi ng power stru ctu re , i n c l u d i n g parl i a m e ntary de m ocra cy, i s
tolerated by t h e contro l l e rs of wea lth only as long as t h a t control i s
n o t th reatened .
It fol lows that t h e o n l y rea l d e m ocratic alternatives to p a r l i a m e n
tary democracy can e m erge w h e n the m i nority control o f t h e ca pital
i sts is challenged . In each of these cases of revol ution , the pen d u l u m
swu n g back t o d ifferen t poi nts of reaction - either t o te rri b l e tyra n
n i e s o r t o parl iame nta ry d e mocracies every bit as feeble a s before .
T h e c h i ef reason fo r t h i s d e c l i n e was the fa i l u re o f t h e revo l
utionary forces t o o rg a n ize t h e i r n e w strength , t o un ite t h e i r forces
powerfu l l y e n o u g h to stave off the reaction and move forwa rd to a
n ew social order. It is a g ri m i ro n y of history that on the o n e occasion
where the revo l utionaries we re led by a pa rty - Russia in October
1 9 1 7 - the worki ng-class base of that party was destroyed in civil

wa r before it cou l d co n s o l i d ate its advances .
The lesson s a re p l a i n . T h e re a re de mocratic a lternatives to par
l i a m e nt, but they a re o n l y l i ke l y to emerg e when there is a c h a l l e n g e
from below t o the e co n o m i c r u l e of t h e m i n o rity.
H ow ca n we e n co u ra g e s u c h a challenge? Revo l u t i o n s can n ot
be created o u t of t h i n a i r. They can only arise i n an atm o s p he re of
confi d e n ce . So the o n l y way to work for a revo l ution a n d a m ore
democratic society is to relate to the day-to-day strugg les t h at always
absorb the exp loited l i ves of the wo rki ng peopl e . Every stri ke, every
demonstratio n , every m a n ifestation of revolt carries with it the seed
of revol ution . T h e pompous and self-absorbed activities of the rep re
sentatives of p a rl i a m e ntary d e mocracy work agai nst s u c h a revol
ution because t h e y consta ntly d a m pen down , mock and h u m i l i ate
l ive p rotest. They p reten d they a re democrats , b u t by th e i r acti o n s
p rove t h e opposite . T h e seeds o f a new, more d emocra t i c society
can o n l y be sown in s t ru g g l e a g a i n st the old o n e .
Fro m : P a u l Foot: "Last t i m e Paris wen t left,"
The Guardian, Lon d o n . March 2 0 , 2 0 0 1 .

Sheila Rowbotham
T h e i d e a o f a march o f women to Versai l les t o stop t h e bloodshed

spread i n April 1 87 1 . Beatrice Excoffo n , the daug hter of a watch
maker who lived with a compositor, told her mother she was leavin g ,
kissed h e r childre n , a n d joi ned the p rocession at t h e Place de l a
Concord e . There were a bout 700 t o 800 wome n . Nobody w a s clear
a bout the a ims of the ma rch o r knew defi n ite l y what they should do,
but there were pol itical rather than strictly economic motives.
Some tal ked about expl a i n i n g to Vers a i l l es what Paris wanted .
Others talked about how things were a h u n d red yea rs ago when the
women of Paris had gone to Versai l les to carry off the baker and the
baker's l ittle boy, as they said then .
Also the rol e of women h a d been raised . There was a d ispute
a bout whether women cou l d o n l y ask for peace or whether they
should defend their cou ntry as much as the men . For although the
women had been taking action , they had been taking action from
their trad itional position as wome n . Rather similar was the way i n
which they wal ked a h e a d o f t h e i r m e n i n t h e Commu ne to meet the
soldi ers , saying "Wil l you fi re o n us? O n your brothers, our h u s
bands? Our children?"
These actions were sti l l from a q u ite customary defi n ition of
wom a n l iness. Although revolutionary pol itical ideas were impinging
o n these women and altho u g h they acted with conscious h i storical
memory, they were not challenging i n a n y way their role as wome n .
However, very easi l y i n s u c h m o m e n t s t h e new c o n c e p t i o n o f
commitment could upset w h a t had b e e n rega rded a s t h e woman's
s phere . A head-on clash cou l d ensue between what the women felt
to be their d uty and what the men felt it to be , as wives , daug hters ,
mothers. Thus in 1 792 when the women's battalions were formed i n
t h e French Revo l ution t h e re w a s o p po s i t i o n from the men . I n
c h a l l e ng i n g the m e n ' s s o l e rig ht to patriotism and g l o ry the revo l
utionary w o m e n m o v e d i nto a form o f fem i n i s m . There was a s i m i l a r
development i n 1 87 1 . O n e s o u rce o f fem i n ist consciou s ness here
came from the atte mpt to eq u a l ize revol utionary struggle. A wome n 's
batta l ion was not a l l owed but the women of the Co m m u n e accom
p a n ied th e i r h u s b a n d s or l o v e rs and often fo u g h t with t h e m . La
So ciale re p o rt e d on A p r i l 5 : "A b a n d of wo m e n a r m e d w i t h
ch asse pots today passed by t h e Place de l a Concord e . T h e y we re
g o i n g to j o i n the Com m u n e fig h ters . "
Often t h e d iv i d i n g l i n e s between n u rs i n g at o n e o f t h e fi rst a i d
posts , serv i n g as a cantiniere or being a sold ier were not clear. O n
t h e batt l e fi e l d L o u i s e M i ch e l , a s c h o o l te a c h e r pro m i n e n t i n t h e
C o m m u n e , looked afte r the wo u n ded a n d took part i n t h e fi ghti n g .
The a c co u n t s t h e s e w o m e n l e ave describe their c o m p l e te
co m m itment to the C o m m u n e . They l i ved only for the revo l u tion i n
a way which i s o n l y possi b l e i n times of extreme crisis. B u t they were
not a lways we l l rega rd ed by t h e officers . An d re Leo , a revol utionary
fem i n ist who was a j o u rn a l i st, d escri bed how o bstacles were put i n
t h e i r way by t h e offi c e rs a n d s u rg e o n s w h o were h o s t i l e even
t h o u g h t h e t ro o p s w e re in fav o r of them . S h e b e l i eved that th i s
d i v i s i o n was b e c a u s e t h e offi cers sti l l reta i n ed t h e n a rrow con
s c i o u s n e s s of m i l i t a ry men w h i l e t h e s o l d i e rs we r e e q u a l l y
revo l utionary citize n s . S h e fe l t this prej u d i ce h a d h a d serious poli
tical conseq u e n ces.
In the fi rst revo l u t i o n women had been excluded fro m freedom
a n d equal ity; they h a d retu rned to Catholicism and reaction . Andre
Leo maintained that t h e re p u b l icans were inconsiste nt. They d id not
want women to be u n d e r the sway of the priests , but they were upset
when wom e n were freeth i n kers and wa nted to act l i ke free h u m a n
b e i n g s . R e p u b l i ca n m e n w e r e j u st repl a c i n g t h e a u t h o rity o f
e m peror a n d G o d with t h e i r own . They sti l l n eeded s u bj e cts , o r at
least subjected wome n . They d i d not want to ad m it anymore than the
revol utionaries of the 1 790s that woman was respo n s i b l e to h erse lf.
" S h e s h o u l d re main neutra l a n d passive , u n d e r the g u i d a nce o f m a n .
S he w i l l have done n oth i n g to c h a n g e h e r confessor. "
Yet this was the very a ntithesis of a l l t h e c l a i m s of revol ut i o n a ry
i d ea s . It was evident that, "The revol ution i s the l iberty a n d responsi
b i l ity of eve ry h u m a n bei n g , l i m ited only by the rights of all, without
p rivi l eg e of race or sex . " Thus by taking t h e revol ution seri o u s l y the
women of t h e Com m u n e a l so fou n d th e m selves forced to take up
fe m i n ist positions i n that they had to stru g g l e not only a g a i n st the
e n emy at Versail les but to confro nt the p rej u d i ce a n d suspicion of
s o m e of the m e n o n their own s i d e . T h e experience was one which
was su bseq uently to be repeated in other revo l utionary movements.
It i s at the point when t h e revo l ution starts to move women out
of the i r passivity i nto the c o n scio u s a n d active rol e of m i l ita nts that
t h e mockery, the caricatu res , the l a u g hter with strong sexu a l u nd e r
tones beg i n . It is o n e of t h e m ost effective weapons agai nst women's
e me rgence . It is one thing to be the o bject of hatred a n d i n s u lts , and
a n other to b e the o bject of scorn and h i l a rity as wel l . I t p ro d u ces its
own self-mocking d efenses a n d its own pecu l i a r paralysis.
If there was some a m b i g u ity in the attitude of the m e n of the l eft
th ere was n o n e i n that of t h e m e n of the rig h t . H e re class hatred ,
p o l i t i ca l e l i t i s m a n d sex u a l a u t h o ri t a ri a n i s m u n ited i n hyste r i c a l
d e n u nciation a n d acts o f atrocity. L i sten to M a x i me d u C a m p o n the
wome n :
"Those who gave t h e m se l v e s t o t h e C o m m u n e - a n d there
were many - had but a s i n g l e a m b i t i o n : to ra ise themselves a bove
the level of man by exag g e rati n g h i s v i c e s . There they fou n d a n
i d e a l they could achieve . T h ey w e re v e n o m o u s a n d cowa rd ly. They
were all there ag itati ng and s q u a w k i n g : i n mates from S a i nt- Lazare
o u t on the spree . . . the vend ors of m o d e s a la tripe de Caen; the
gentlemen's seamstresses; t h e g e n t l e m e n 's s h i rtmake rs ; the teach
e rs of g rown-up school boys . . . What was p rofo u n d ly co m i c was that
t h ese absco n d e rs from the work h o u s e u nfa i l i n g ly i nvoked Joan of
Arc, and were not a bove compari n g t h e mselves to her . . . D u r i n g the

the first dress rehearsal in world his tory 87
fi n a l days , a l l of these b e l l i cose v i ragos h e l d out l o ng e r t h a n t h e
men d i d b e h i n d t h e b a rrica d e s . Many of th e m were arrested , with
powder- b l a c k e n e d h a n d s and s h o u l d e rs b r u i sed by t h e reco i l of
their rifl e s ; they we re sti l l p a l p itati ng from the oversti m u lation of
battl e . "
The p e n a l t i e s were severe . Beside t h e n a mes wh i c h a re we l l
known , l i ke L o u i s e M i c h e l , sentenced to tra n sportation t o a penal
settl e m e n t , t h e re we re i n n u m e ra b l e others . A co n c i e rg e , L o u i s e
Noel ; a p a ras o l - m a ke r, J e a n n e Laymet; a cook, Eugenie L h i l l y; the
s e a m stre s s , E u l a l i e P a p a vo i n e ; E l iza beth Retiffe , a c a rd b o a rd
m a ker; t h e rag-p icker M a ri e Wolff - they were tra n sported , g iven
h a rd labor and executed . They had gone to join their lovers o n the
barricades or they had been m oved by the sight of the wou nded .
They loved t h e re p u b l i c , hated the rich , and rose against the years
of h u m i l iation they had experienced as workers and as women .
Capta i n J o u e n n e b e g a n t h e i n d i ctment at their t ri a l by ca l l i n g
t he m , "u nworthy c reatu res w h o seem t o have taken it o n t h e m selves
to become a n o p p ro b ri u m to t h e i r sex, and to repud iate the great
and magn ificen t rol e of wom a n in soci ety . . . a legit i m ate wife , the
o bject of our affection and res pect , entirely d evoted to her fa m i l y . . .
B u t if, d e s e rt i n g t h i s sacred m i ss i o n , the n a t u re of h e r i nfl u e n ce
changes, a n d serves n o n e but the spi rit of evi l , she becomes a moral
m o n strosity; t h e n wo m a n i s m o re d a n gero u s than the most d a n
gerous m a n . "
T h e re was a c h a n g e t o o i n t h e w a y s h e w a s treated by t h e
gentlemen o f t h e ru l i n g class. E l isee Recl u s , t h e geogra p h e r taken
prisoner, d escri b e d one of the women canteen workers:
"The poor woman was in the row in front of m i n e , at the side of
her h u s ba n d . She was not at a l l p retty, nor was she you n g : rather a
poor, m i d d le-aged proletaria n , sma l l , m a rch i n g with d iffic u l ty. I nsu lts
ra ined down o n h e r, a l l from officers p ra n c i n g o n horseback along
the roa d . A very you n g officer said , 'You know what we ' re going to
d o with h e r? We' re going to screw her with a red hot i ro n . ' A vast
h o rrified s i l e nce fe l l among the s o l d i e r s . "
H e re expressed i n a parti c u l a r l y i ntense a n d re p u l sive form was
the hypocri sy which the you n g M a rx had exposed so ve h e m e ntly.
H ere is the rea l natu re of the s e n s i b i l ity a n d g a l l antry of the m e n of
t h e u p per classes toward fe m i n i n ity.
F ro m : S he i l a Rowbotha m ,
Women, Resistance and Revolution

(London : Peng u i n , 1 97 2 ) .
chapte r six: "The Internationa le"
The events of the Paris Commune inspired the famous revolu tionary hymn
- "The Internationale. " Eugene Pottier wrote the original French lyrics
in June 1871 while in jail after the defeat of the Commune. Pottier, a fabric
designer, had participated in the 1 848 revolt in France and was elected to
the Paris Commune in March 1 8 71 . He was a close friend of the French
pain ter Gus tave Cou rbet, an admirer of Pierre-Joseph Prou dhon (the
campaigner for anti-au thoritarian socialism) and a member of the Firs t
International. Following the Commune, Pottier fled to England and the
United States and was condemned to death in his absence by the French
au thorities.
Pottier's poem was set to music by Pierre Degeyter in 1 888, one year
after his death. The song rapidly became a favorite of the European workers '
movement and the hymn of socialists and communists, to be sung a t
conferences of the First a n d Second Internationals. I t was adopted a s the
first National Anthem of the Soviet Union, then the anthem of the (third)
Communist International, until Stalin changed it during World War II.
However, as sung by the Chinese studen ts and workers at Tienanmen
Square in Beijing, it remains a song of protest and revolt.
liThe Internationale"
Words by Eugene Pottier (Paris 1 871 )
M usic by Pierre Degeyte r (1 888)
Arise ye workers fro m yo u r s l u m b e rs

Arise ye priso n e rs of want
For reason i n revolt n ow t h u n d e rs
And at l ast ends the age of ca nt.
Away with all yo u r s u p e rstitions
S e rv i l e masses arise, a r i s e
We' l l c h a n g e h e n ceforth t h e o l d t ra d i t i o n
And s p u rn the d u st to w i n t h e p r i z e .
C h o ru s :
S o comrades, come ra l ly
And the last fig h t let us face
"The I nte rnati o n a l e " u n ites the h u ma n race.
So comrades, come ra l ly
And the last fig h t let us face
"The I n ternati o n a l e " u n ites the h u ma n race .
"the internationale " 91
No more deluded by reaction

On tyrants only we'll make war
The soldiers too will take strike action
They'll break ranks and fight no more
And if those cannibals keep trying
To sacrifice us to their pride
They soon shall hear the bullets flying
We'll shoot the generals on our own side.
No savior from on high delivers

No faith have we in prince or peer
Our own right hand the chains must shiver
Chains of hatred , greed and fear
E'er the thieves will out with their booty
And give to all a happier lot.
Each at the forge must do their duty
And we'll strike while the iron is hot.
V. l. Lenin
The workers' anthem
In 1 9 1 3, on the 25th a n n iversary of Pottier's dea th, the R u ssian

revolu tionary Vladimir Lenin sta ted:
This song has been translated into all European and other lan
guages. In whatever country a class-conscious worker finds himself,
wherever fate may cast him, however much he may feel himself a
stranger, without language , without friend s , far from his native
country - he can find himself comrades and friends by the familiar
refrain of "T he I nternationale."
T he workers of all countries have adopted the song of their fore
most fighter, the proletarian poet, and have made it the worldwide
song of the proletariat.
Fro m : V. 1 . Len i n , Col/ected Works, Volume 36

( Moscow: P rogress P u b lishers, 1 966), 223-224 .
Orig i n a l l y p u b l ished in Pravda, J a n u a ry 3 , 1 9 1 3 .

chapter seven : Exile in
New Caledonia
After her trial, imprisonment and deportation, the islands of New Caledonia
became Louise Michel's home for more than six years.
In exile, Louise Michel took up teaching both French settlers and the
indigenous Kanak population. She had an Enlightenment faith in reason,
science and art as ennobling the condition of humanity. Throughout her life,
she took a great amateur interest in scientific experiment, botany, biology
and nutrition. With plenty of spare time during her exile, she conducted a
range of botanical studies and scientific experimen ts taking extensive
records of the new Pacific flora and fauna, and experimenting with the
vaccination of papaya trees against jaundice.
During the 1878 Kanak revolt, most of the Communards exiled in New
Caledonia rallied to the French state, but Louise Michel took up defense of
the Knnak cause. Her Memoirs highlight her antiracist sentiments and her
contempt for notions of European superiority.
Louise Michel
The Kanaks were seeki n g the same l i berty we
had sought i n the Com m u ne . . .
The hope for l i berty a n d b re a d was i n the hearts o f the Kanaks. They
rebel l ed in 1 878, seeki n g l i berty and d i g n ity. Not all of my com rades
a p proved of their rebe l l i o n a s stro n g l y a s I d i d . O n e day Bauer and
I were ta l k i n g about the revol t of the Kanaks, a b u r n i n g q u estion o n
t h e Ducos pe n i ns u l a . We started spea k i n g so l o u d l y that a g uard
ran over from the post offi ce t h i n k i n g that a riot had b roken out. H e
withdrew, very d isconcerted , when h e s a w there were o n ly two o f
us.
That a rg u ment was a bo u t n ot o n l y t h e Kanaks , b u t a l s o about a
Kanak pl ay. Bauer acc u sed me of wanti n g to put on a Kanak p lay,
a n d I d i d n 't deny it. We deportees had a th eater on the h i l l a bove
N umbo. It had its d i rectors , its a ctors , its stagehand s , its sets , a n d
i t s boa rd of d i rectors . T h i s th eater w a s a masterpiece , g iven t h e con
d itions u n d e r which w e were l iv i n g . Every S u nday w e u se d t o go to
the theater. We put on everyt h i n g t h e re : d ra mas, vaudevi l l e , oper
etta s . We even s a n g fra g m e n ts of a n o p e ra , Robert th e De vil,
a lthough we d id n 't have a l l t h e score .
True , the l e a d i n g w o m e n u s u a l l y h a d d e e p , b oo m i n g voices,
a n d the i r hands kept sea rch i n g in th e i r s k i rt p ockets as if they were
l ooking fo r a cigar. Even my cou rt- m a rt i a l d ress , w h i c h was very
l ong , left their feet u n covered to the a n kles, for some of our lead i n g
ladies were ta l l . They lengthened the i r s k i rts fi n a l ly, a n d t h e n n oth i ng
was lacki n g in their cost u m e s . Wol owski t ra i n ed the choru s .
They were ta l ki n g about a n o rc h e stra when I left t h e pen i n s u l a
for N o u m e a . I h a d my o w n i d e a s for a n orchestra : I wanted t o s h a ke
palm bra n ches, strike b a m bo o , create a horn from s h e l l s , and use

exile in new caledonia 95
the tones p ro d u ced b y a l e af p ressed a g a i n st the l i ps. I n s h o rt , I
wanted a Kan a k orchestra , complete with q uarte r tones. T h a n ks to
knowledge I h a d gotte n from Daou m i and the Kanak w h o b roug h t
s u p p l ies, I bel ieved I k n ew e n o u g h t o try. B u t m y p l a n w a s b l ocked
by the Com m i ttee of L i g h t C lassical Theater. I nd eed , they accused
m e of being a savage .
To some com ra d e s I seemed to be more Ka n a k th a n the K a n
aks. T h e y arg ued a b i t , so t o make t h e situation a l ittle m o re i nter
esti n g , I spoke of p u tti n g on a Ka n a k play whose text w a s wea ri ng
out m y pocket. I eve n tal ked a bout perform i n g t h e p l ay d ressed i n
b l a ck tig hts a n d I added a few more details designed t o exasperate
those peopl e : the i n c i d e n t took its normal course , rous i n g m y a d
versaries a n d a m u s i n g m e d e e p with i n .
T h e revol t o f t h e tribes was deadly serious, b u t i t i s better if I say
l ittle a bout it. T h e Ka n a ks were seeki n g the same l i be rt y we had
s o u g h t i n the Com m u n e . Let m e say only that my red sca rf, the red
scarf of the C o m m u n e that I had h i d d e n from every s e a rc h , was
d ivided in two pieces o n e n i g ht. Two Kanaks, before going to j o i n the
i n s u rgents aga i n st the wh ite s , h a d come to say good bye to me. They
s l i p ped i nto t h e ocea n . The sea was bad , a n d they may n ever have
a rrived across the bay, o r p e r h a ps they were killed i n the fighti n g . I
never saw either of t h e m a g a i n , a n d I don't know which of the two
d eaths took t h e m , b u t they were b rave with the b ravery that b l a c k
a n d wh ite b o t h h ave . . .
T h e Ka n a k I ns u rrection of 1 878 fai led . The strength a n d l o n g i n g

o f h u m a n hea rts w a s s h ow n o n ce ag a i n , b u t the whites s h ot d ow n
the rebels as we were mowed down i n fro nt o f Bastion 3 7 and on

the p l a i n s o f Satory. W h e n they s e n t Atai's h e a d to Pari s , I wond e red
who the rea l head h u nters were . As H e n ri Rochefort had o n ce written
to m e : "the Ve rs a i l les Govern ment cou l d g ive the natives l e ssons i n
ca n n i ba l i s m " . . .
Early i n 1 87 9 , t h e a ut h orities a l l owed me to leave t h e D u cos

p e n i n s u l a and move to N o u m e a . T hose who had a profe s s i o n and
could be self-supporting were g iven a measure of freedo m ; so I went
to Nou mea to teach . There I ta u g h t not only the c h i l d ren of the w h ite
c ol o n ists , but a l s o the Ka n a ks , a n d a m o n g those I ta u g h t was
Daou mi's brother.
It was fitting that I s h o u l d teach h i m , because Dao u m i was the
fi rst Kanak I had met in N ew C a l e d o n i a . After that fi rst meeti ng with
Daou m i , I saw him a g a i n m a n y t i m e s . To p ractise E u ropean l i fe he
g ot a j o b at the canteen on t h e D u co s pe n i ns u l a , a n d when I ta l ked
to h i m I got h i m to te l l m e the legends of t h e Kanakas, a n d he gave
me vocabulary l ists . For my part, I tried to tel l him the th ings I bel ieved
it was most i m portant for h i m to k now. There we re many legends that
I learned from Daou m i and h i s brot h e r.
Dao umi's b rother a n d I a l s o spoke of the short future that loomed
before h i s race , when u ntutored and u n armed men faced o u r g reed
a nd our i n n u merable mea n s of destructi o n . See i n g the lofty, resol ute
m i nd a n d the coura g e o u s a n d k i n d h e a rt of Daou m i ' s b roth er, I
won dered which of us was t h e s u p e rior b e i n g : the one who ass i m i
l ates foreign knowledge thro u g h a thousa n d d ifficulties for t h e sake
of h i s race, or the wel l -armed wh ite who a n n i h i l ates those who are
l ess we l l armed . Other races g i v i n g way befo re o u r arms is no proof
of our su periority. If tigers a n d e l e p h a nts a n d l ions suddenly covered
E u rope a n d attacked u s , t h e y w o u l d tri u m p h in a sto rm of d es
truction and wou ld seem s u p e ri o r to us.
Fro m : Louise M i ch e l , Memoires

(Tra n s . -Ed. )
Louise Michel
Art for a l l ! Science for a l l ! Bread for al l !
New wonders wil l come from science , and change must com e. Time
raises up v o lca n o e s u n d e r o l d continents, a n d time a l l ows new
feelings to g row. Soon t h e re wil l be neither crue lty nor exp loitation ,
a n d scie nce wil l p rovid e all hum a n ity with e n o u g h food , with nour
is hing food. I d re a m of t h e tim e when scie nce wil l give everyo n e
e n oug h t o eat. I n stead o f t h e putrefied flesh which w e a re accus
tomed to e atin g , p e rh a p s scie nce will give us che mica l m ixtu res
containing more iron and nutrients than the b lood and meat we now
a bsorb ...
With the a bun d a n ce of nouris hing food in that future worl d , there
must be art, too. In that coming e ra , the arts wil l be for everyone. The
power of h a rm o n i o u s c o l o rs , t h e g ra n d e u r of scul pted m a rble -
they wil l belong to t h e e n tire human race. Genius wil l be d e veloped ,
n ot s n uffed out. I g n ora n ce h a s done enoug h h a rm. The p rivilege of
knowledge is worse t h a n t h e p rivilege of wealth.
The arts a re a p a rt of hum a n rig hts, and everybody needs them.
N eith er music, nor m a rb le , nor color, can by itself proclaim the Mar
seil l aise of the n ew world. Who wil l sing out the Marseillaise of art?
Who wil l tell of the thirst for knowled g e , of the ecstasy of musica l
h a rmonies , of m a rb l e m a d e fl e s h , of canvas pal pitating like life? Art ,
like scie nce a n d liberty, must be no l e s s available t h a n food.
Everyone m u st take u p a torch to l et the coming era wa l k in light.
Art for all ' Scie n ce for a l l ' Bread for a ll !
From: Louise Miche l , Memoires

(Tran s . -Ed. )
Louise Michel
Letter protesting rem oval from N u m bo cam p
Exiled to New Caledon ia, the leaders of the Com m u n e were i n i tially
detained all the Ducos pen i n s u la at Nu m bo. Together with other women of
the Com m u n e, Michel refused to be separated from her male comrades.
N u mbo, May 20, 1 87 5
Deportee L o u i s e M i che l , N o . 1 , p rotests a g a i nst t h e ru l i n g w h i c h
assig n s a l l fe male depo rtees t o h o u s i n g fa r away from t h e N u mbo
cam p , as if their presence was ca u s i n g a sca n d a l . G iven that the
same law appl ies to both men a n d wom e n who were deported , there
is no need to add this u n d e se rved i n s u l t .
F o r m y p a rt, I wi l l n o t g o to t h i s n e w h o m e u n less the reasons
for which we a re being sent a re made p u b l i c i n a poste r, tog ether
with deta i l s of the manner i n which we' l l be treated there .
Deportee Louise M i c h e l d e c l a res t h a t , if t h e rea s o n s for t h i s
c h a n g e a re a n i n s u l t , s h e w i l l p rotest r i g h t t i l l t h e e n d , wh atever
happens to her.
Lou ise Mich e l , No. 1
Xaviere Gauthier (ed), Louise Michel,

chapter e i g ht: Authority Ves ted
in One Person is a Crime
In the aftermath of the Paris Commune, tens of thousands of Communards

were massacred by the troops of Versailles. Surviving leaders of the
Commune, including Louise Michel, were brought before military tribunals.
Michel received a sentence of lifetime deportation and was sent to the French
colony of New Caledonia in the South Pacific in August 1 8 73 . After a
general amnesty in 1 880, Michel was pardoned.
Years of exile in New Caledonia had not dimmed her contempt of
authority and she returned to France to resume her agitation. She con
tinued to scorn arbitrary authority: in 1 882, Michel was brought before a
Paris court for insulting police, and in 1883 she was arrested for leading a
demonstration across Paris, carrying a black flag, during which bread was
taken from three bakeries.
Louise Michel
Statement to t h e m i l ita ry tri b u n a l afte r t h e
Paris Commune, 1 871
I do not wish to defend myself, I d o n ot wish to be defended . I

belong completely to the socia l revolution and I declare that I accept
complete responsibility for a l l my actions. I accept it completely a n d
without reservations.
You accuse me of having taken part i n the murder of the gen
e rals? To that I would reply - yes, if I had been in Montmartre when
they wished to have the people fi red on. I wou l d not have hesitated
to fire myself on those who gave such orders. But I do not under
stand why they were shot when they were prisoners, and I look on
this action as arrant coward ice.
As for the burning of Paris, yes, I took part i n it. I wished to oppose
t h e i n va d e rs fro m Ve rsa i l l e s with a b a r r i e r of fla m e s . I had n o
accomplices i n this action . I acted o n my own i n itiative.
I am told that I am a n acco m p l i ce of the Comm une. Certa i nly,
yes, since the Commune wanted m o re than a n ything else the socia l
revol ution , and si nce t h e soc i a l revo l u t i o n i s the d e a rest of m y
desires. More t h a n that, I have the honor o f being one o f t h e instiga
tors of the Commune, which by the way had n othing - noth i n g , as
i s wel l known - to do with m u rd e r and a rso n . I who was present at
all the sittings at the Town H a l l , I declare that there was never a n y
q u estion o f murder or arso n .
D o you want t o know w h o a re rea l l y g u ilty? It is t h e pol iticians.
And perhaps, later, l i g ht will be brought onto a l l these events which
today it is found quite natural to blame o n all s u pporters of the social
revol ution . . .
authority vested in one person. . . 1 01
But why s h o u l d I d efen d myself? I have a lready decl a red that I
refuse to do so. You a re m e n who are going to judge m e . You sit
before me u n m a s ked . You a re m e n and I am only a wom a n , a n d yet
I look you in the eye. I know q u ite well that everything I could say
wil l not make t h e least difference to your sentence. So a sin g l e last
word before I sit down . We never wanted anything but the triu m p h
o f the g reat p rinciples o f t h e revol u tion. I swear i t on our m a rtyrs who
fel l at Satory, by our ma rtyrs whom I acclaim loudly, and who wil l one
d ay have their reven g e .
Once more I b e l o n g t o you . D o with m e a s you please . Ta ke m y
life i f you wis h . I a m n o t t h e woma n t o argue with you for a moment. . .
What I claim from you , you w h o call you rselves a Co u n cil of War,
who sit as my j u d g e s , w h o do not disg uise yourselves as a Commis
sion of Pa rd o n s , you who a re military men and deliver you r jud g ment
in the sig h t of a l l , is Satory w h e re o u r brothers have already fa l l e n .
I must be cut o ff from society. You have been told t o d o s o . We l l ,
t h e Commission e r o f t h e Repu blic i s rig ht. Since i t see m s that any
heart which beats for freedom has the rig ht only to a small lum p of
lead , I d e m a n d my s h a re . If you let me live , I s h a l l never stop crying
for vengea n ce , and I s h a ll avenge my brothers by denouncing the
m u rd e rers in the Com m ission for Pardons .
President of the Court: I ca n n ot allow you to continue spe a king if you
continue in this ton e .
Louise Michel: I h ave finish e d . . . I f you a re n o t coward s , kil l m e .

Sixth Court Martia l Board (Versailles)
Report of Louise M i c h e l 's tri a l for i n s u lti n g
police, 1 882
Louise Michel was the fi rst accused ca l l ed . The va liant citizen was
e ntirely self-possessed , a n d in h e r own voice she a n swered the
j udge's questions i n a very p recise manner.
"You are cha rged with i n s ulting police m e n , " said M . Puget, the
j udge .
"On the contrary, it is we who s ho u l d bring charges concern ing
b rutal ity a n d i n s u lts , " Louise M i chel said , " because we were very
peacefu l . What happened , and doubtless the reason I am here , is
t h i s : I went to the head q u a rters of the p o l ice co m m i ss i o n e r and
when I got there, I looked out a window and saw several policemen
beating a man . I did not want to say anyt h i n g to those pol icemen
because they were very overexcited , so I went up to the next floor
and found two other policemen who were ca l mer. I said to the m , 'Go
d own q u i ckly. Someone i s being m u rd e red' . "
The j udge said : "That story does n o t agree with the depositions
o f witnesses we' re about to hear."
Louise Michel answered: "What I've said is the truth . When accu
s ations agai nst me have been tru e , I've admitted things far more
serious than this."
The first witness ca lled was a police constable named Co nar. He
said that when he got to the police co m m i ssioner's he found two
women, one of whom was Lo u ise M iche l . He testified that she said
to him: "You are killers and loafe rs . "
"Th at's a l i e , " said Lo uise M i ch e l . T h e po l i ce con stable persisted
in claiming his account was tru e . Lo uise M ichel repeated that she
was telling the truth and cou l d say noth i n g more .
au thority vested in one person . . . 1 03
Regard l ess of t h e p o l i ce consta ble's story being a l i e , the cou rt
sente n ced Lou i s e M ic h e l to two weeks i n prison for violat i n g Article
224 of the Penal Cod e .
From: Report published i n the newspaper
L'lntransigent. J a n u a ry 7 , 1 882.
Louise Michel
Telegram to organ ize rs of the
Les Inval ides protest
In March 1883, police began searching for Louise Michel after she led a rally
of unemployed people at Les Invalides in Paris, du ring which some bakeries
were looted. She was invited to speak at a n u m ber of public meetings after
the rally, bu t kept a low profile, as indicated in the telegram sen t to meeting
orga nizers on March 1 0.
Dear citizens a n d fri e n d s ,
I t s e e m s t h a t the police a re prepa r i n g to d isrupt my presentation t o
the m e e t i n g s this eve n i n g . Please e x c u s e m e fo r n o t atte n d i n g , i n
o rder t o avoid giving p l e a s u re t o M r. C a m escasse [th e pol ice com
m issioner] .
When they bri n g me before t h e c o u rts, I w i l l g o there b y myself,
without the need for my fri e n d s w h o a re d efen d i n g me to be a rrest
ed as wel l .
Louise Michel
M a rch 1 0 , 1 883
Xaviere Gauth i e r (ed . ) , Louise Michel,

je vous ecris de ma nuit. (Trans. -Ed. )
Louise Michel
Les Invalides Trial, 1 883
Louise's contemptfor the authorities is evident in her statement to the court

at her 1 883 trial, after which she was sentenced to six years in solitary con
finement.
What is b e i n g d o n e to us h e re is a pol itical proceeding . It i s n 't we
who are b e i n g prosecuted , but the Anarch ist Pa rty t h ro ug h u s . . .
What i s s u rprisi n g you , what i s appa l l i n g you , i s that a wo m a n
i s d a r i n g t o d efen d h e rself. People aren't accustomed to see i n g a
woman who d a re s to t h i n k . People wou l d rather, as Pro u d h o n p u t
it, s e e a wom a n as either a h o usewife o r a cou rtesan .
We carried the b l a c k fl a g because the demonstration was to b e
absolutely peacefu l , a n d t h e b l a c k flag is the fla g o f stri k e s a n d the
flag of those w h o a re h u n g ry. C o u l d we h ave carried any o t h e r fla g ?
T h e red flag i s n a i l ed u p i n t h e cemeteries, a n d we sh o u l d take it
u p o n l y when we ca n p rotect it. Wel l , we cou l d n 't do that . I h a ve told
you before and now I repeat: i t was an essenti a l l y peacefu l d e m o n
stration .
I went to t h e d e m o n strati o n . I h a d to g o . Why was I a rreste d ? . .
I 've gone t h ro u g h o u t E u ro p e s a y i n g that I recog n ize n o borders,
sayin g that a l l h u m a n ity h a s the rig h t to the heritage of human ity. That
i n h e ritance wi l l not b e l o n g to u s , because we are accu stom e d to
l i v i n g in slavery. It w i l l b e l o n g to those perso ns in the futu re w h o wi l l
h ave l i berty a n d w h o w i l l know h ow to enjoy it.
When we a re tol d that we a re the enemies of the re p u b l i c , we
have only o n e a n swer : We fo u n d ed it upon 35, 000 of o u r corpses.
That i s how we d efe n d e d t h e rep u b l i c . . .
I s n 't it s i m pl y a l aw of m i g h t m a kes rig ht which is d o m i n ati n g u s ?
W e want t o re p l a ce it w i t h t h e i d e a t h a t r i g h t makes right. T h a t i s the
extent of o u r c ri m e .
1 06 louise michel rebel lives
Above the co urts , beyon d the 20 yea rs i n prison you can sen
te nce us to - beyond even a l i fe sentence - I see the dawn of
l i berty and e q u a l ity bre a k i n g .
Knowing what is g o i n g o n a ro u n d yo u , you too a re t i red o f i t , d i s
g u sted by it. How can you re m a i n ca l m when you see the p ro leta riat
constantly suffe r i n g fro m h u n g e r w h i l e o t h e rs a re g o rg i n g t h e m
s e l ves?
We knew that the d e m o n strat i o n at Les I nva lides wou l d come to
n oth i n g , and yet it was necessa ry to g o there . At this time in h i story
we are very badly off. We d o n o t ca l l t h e reg i m e that rules us a
republic. A re p u b l i c is a form of govern m e n t which makes p rogress,
w h e re there is justice, where there i s bread for a l l . How d oes the
repu b l i c you have made d iffe r from the e m p i re? What i s this ta l k
a bout l i berty i n the courts w h e n five years o f p rison waits a t the e n d ?
I d o n o t wa nt t h e cry o f t h e workers t o be lost. You wi l l do with m e
what y o u w i s h , b u t it's a q u estio n of m o re than me alone. I t ' s a matter
t h at concerns a large p a rt of Fra n ce , a l a rge part of the worl d , for
people are beco m i ng m o re a n d m o re a n a rc h i st i c . . . T h e re is n o
d o ubt that y o u w i l l see sti l l m o re revo l u t i o n s , a n d for that w e w i l l
m arch confidently toward the future.
When one person alone n o l o n g e r h a s a uthority, there w i l l be
l i ght, truth and j ustice . Authority vested in one pers o n i s a cri m e .
What w e w a n t i s authority vested i n everyon e . . .
People recog nize h o m el a n d s o n l y to make them a foyer for war.
People recog n ize bord e rs o n l y to make them an o bject of i ntri g u e .
We conceive homelands a n d fa m i l y i n a m u c h b roader s e n s e . These
a re our cri mes .
We l i ve in an age of anxiety. Everybody is trying to fi n d h i s own
way, but we say anyhow that w hatever h a p pe n s , if l i be rty i s real ized
a n d q u a lity achieved , we s h a l l b e h a p py.
Superior court of the Seine District, June 2 1 , 1 883.

Louise Michel
Letter to the Comm iss i oner of Pol ice
Sir,
I have constantly protested against the infamy of being granted a
pardon.
I do not know why you are inflicting this insult on me, and I
declare again that I will not leave prison unless all the others are
released .
Please receive my respect,
L. Michel
Saint-Lazare, January 1 4 , 1 88 6 .
Xaviere Gauthier (ed), Louise Michel,

chapter n i ne : Emma and Louise
Emma Goldman - feminist, activist, organizer - was profoundly influenced

by the example of Louise Michel. Born in Russia, Goldman migrated to the
United S ta tes at age 1 6, where she lectured, wrote and protested on issues
of militarism, free speech, women 's rights and civil liberties.
"Red Emma " spent much of her life traveling between Eu rope and the
United States, promoting her philosophy of anarchism. During these travels
in 1895, she first met Louise Michel, whom she later described as "the
priestess of pity and vengeance. " In 1 899, both women spoke together in
London in support of the Haymarket martyrs - anarchists condemned for
the death of Chicago policemen in the May Day bombing of 1 886.
In her autobiography, Living my Life, Emma Goldman spells out the
impact that Louise Michel had on her life. In later polemics with other
writers, she also addressed the issue of public women and homosexuality,
in response to a German article abou t Louise and lesbianism.
Emma Goldman
There was s p i rit and youth in her eyes
One of my a i m s i n visiti n g E n g l a nd was to meet the outstan d i n g

perso n a l ities i n t h e a n a rc h i st move m e n t . . . Lou ise M i c h e l I met
a l m ost immediately upon my a rrival . The French com rades I stayed
with had arranged a reception for my fi rst Sunday in Lon d o n . Ever
since I had read a bout the Paris Commune, its g lorious beg i n ning
and its terri b l e end, Louise M ichel had stood out sublime i n her love
for h u m a n ity, g ra n d in h e r zeal a n d cou rage . She was a n g u l a r,
gaunt, aged before her years (she was only 62) but there was spirit
and youth in h e r eyes, a n d a smile so tender that it immed i ately won
my heart .
T h i s , the n , w a s the w o m a n w h o had survived t h e savagery o f the
respectable Paris mob. Its fury had drowned the Comm u n e i n the
blood of the workers a n d had strewn the streets of P a ris with
thousands of dead and wounded . Not being appeased , it had also
reached out for Louise. Aga i n and again she had courted d eath ; on
the barricades of Pere Lachaise, the last stand of the Com m u nards,
Louise had chosen the m ost dangerous position for herself. I n court
s h e had d e m a n d e d t h e s a m e pena lty as was meted o u t to h e r
comrades, scorni n g cle m e n cy on t h e grounds o f sex. S h e wou l d d i e
for t h e cause.
Whethe r out of fea r or awe of this heroic figure, the m u rd e rous
Paris bourgeoisie had n ot dared to ki l l her. They preferred to doom
her to a slow death i n New Caledonia. But they had reckoned with
out the fortitude of Louise M i ch e l , her devotion and capacity for con
secration to her fel low s ufferers. In New Caledonia she became the
hope and i n s p i ration of the exiles. In sickness she n u rsed their
bodies; in depression s h e cheered their spirits. The amnesty for the
Communards b rought Louise back with the others to France. She

found herself the acclaimed idol of the French masses . They adored
her as their Mere Lou i s e , bien aimee. Shortly after her return from
exile Louise headed a demonstration of u n e mployed to the Espla
nade des I nvalides. Thousands were out of work for a long time and
hungry. Louise led the p rocession into the bakery shops, for which
she was a rrested and cond e m ned to five years' i m prison ment. In
cou rt she defended the rig ht of the h u n g ry man to bread , eve n if he
has to "steal" it. Not the sentence, but the loss of her dear mother
proved the g reatest blow to Lou ise at her tri a l . She loved her with
an absorbing affection and now she declared that she had nothi n g
else t o l ive for except the revol uti o n . I n 1 886 Louise was pardoned ,
but she refused to accept any favors from the state . She had to be
taken forcibly from prison i n ord e r to be set at l i berty.
D u ring a large meeting i n Le H avre someone fired two shots at
Louise while she was on the platform talking . One went through her
hat; the other struck her behind the ear. The operation , although very
painfu l , cal led forth no complaint from Louise. I n stead s h e lamented
her poor a n i mals left alone in h e r rooms and the i nconvenience the
delay wou l d cause her woman friend who was waiting for her in the
next town . The man who nearly k i lled her had been influenced by
a priest to com mit the act, but Louise tried her utmost to have h i m
released. She induced a famous l awyer t o defend her assailant a n d
s h e herself appeared i n cou rt t o p l ead with t h e j u d g e i n h i s behalf.
Her sympathies were particularly stirred by the man's young daughter,
whom she could not bear to have become fatherless by the man's
being sent to prison. Louise's stan d d i d not fai l to i nfl u e nce even her
fanatical assailant.
Later Louise was to partici pate i n a g reat stri ke i n Vie n n a , but
s he was arrested at the Gare du Lyon as she was about to board
the tra i n . The cabinet member res ponsible for the massacre of the
workingmen in Fourmies saw in Louise a formidable force that he
had repeatedly tried to cru s h . Now h e demanded her removal from
emma and louise 111
jail to an insane asyl u m on the g round that she was deranged and
dangerous. It was this fiendish plan to dispose of Louise that induced
her comrades to persuade h e r to move to England .
The vulgar F rench papers conti nued to paint her as a wild beast,
as "La Vierg e Rouge" [Th e Red Virgin] without any fem i n ine q u ali
ties or charm . The m o re decent wrote of her with bated breath . They
feared her, but they also looked u p to her as someth ing far a bove
their empty souls a n d h ea rts . As I sat near her at our first meeti n g , I
wondered how anyone could fai l to find charm in her. It was true that
she cared l ittle about her a ppearance. I ndeed , I had never seen a
woman so utterly oblivious of anything that concerned h e rself. Her
d ress was shabby, h e r bon n et ancient. Everythi n g she wore was ill
fittin g . But h e r whole being was i l lu m ined by an i n ner l ig h t . One
q uickly succumbed to the spell of her radiant personal ity, so com
pelling i n its strength , so moving in its chi l d l i ke simplicity. The after
noon with Louise was an experience unli ke anyth ing that had h a p
pened till then i n my l ife. H e r hand i n mine, its tender p ressu re on
my head , her words of endearment and close comradeship, made
my soul expand , reach out toward the spheres of beauty where she
dwelt.
From: Emma Goldman, Living m y Life
(New York: AMS Press, 1 970), 1 66.

Emma Goldman
Louise M i chel was a com plete woman
D e a r Dr. H i rschfeld:
I have been acq uainted with your g reat works on sexual psychology
fo r a n u m ber of yea rs now. I have a lways deeply a d m i red you r
courageous intervention on behalf o f the rights of people who a re
by their natural disposition u n a b l e to express thei r sexual feelings
i n what is customarily cal l ed the "normal" way. Now that I have had
the pleasu re of making you r perso n a l acq u a i ntance and observing
your efforts at first had , I fee l more strongly than ever the impress
of your personality and spirit which has g uided you in your d ifficult
u ndertaking.
Your wi llingness to p l ace your periodical at my disposa l , giving
me the opportunity to p resent a critical eval uation of the essay by
H err von Levetzow on the a l l eged homosexual ity of Louise M i ch e l ,
is proof - i f such proof were ever req u i red - that you are a man
with a deep sense of j u stice and interested only in the truth . . .
Above all, I feel obliged to preface m y response to the statements
of the above-mentioned author with a few brief comments. In chal
lenging what I regard as e rroneous p res u p positions on the part of
Herr von Levetzow, I a m i n no way m otivated by any prejudice ag
a i nst homosexual ity itself or any a ntipathy toward homosexuals in
genera l . Had Louise M ichel ever m a n ife sted any type of sexual
feel ings i n all those relation s h i ps with people whom she loved and
who were devoted to her, I wou ld certa i n l y be the last to seek to
cleanse her of this "stigma."
It is a tragedy, I feel , that people of a d ifferent sexual type a re
caught i n a world which s h ows so l ittl e u n dersta n d i n g for homo
sexua l s , is so crass l y i n d iffe re nt to t h e various g radations a n d
emma and louise 1 13
variations of g ender and the i r g reat sign ifi cance in l ife . Far be it fo r
me to seek to evaluate these people as inferior, less mora l , or incap
able of higher feel ings and actions . I am the last person to who m it
wo uld occur to "protect" Lo u ise Michel , my g reat teache r and co m
rade , from the cha rg e of homosexuality. Lo u ise M ichel's s e rvice to
h u manity and h e r g reat wo rk of social l i beration are such that they
can be neither enl a rg e d nor red u ced , wh atever her sex u al habits
were.
Years ago , befo re I knew a nyth ing about sexual psychology and
when my sole acq uaintance w ith homosexuals was l i mited to a few
wo men I had met in p rison (wh e re I was held because of m y pol itical
convictions) . I s poke up in no uncerta in terms on behal f of Oscar
Wilde. As an ana rchist, my pl ace has always been on the side of
the persecuted . The enti re persecution and senten cing of W i l d e
struck me a s a n act of c r u e l i nj ustice and repulsive hypocrisy on t h e
part o f t h e society which co n demned this man. And this a lone was
the reason which pro mpted me to stand up for h i m . . .
Fro m a l l of t h is , yo u r readers may recognize that any p rejud ice
o r anti pathy towa rd homosex u a ls is total l y fo rei gn to m e . On the
contrary! Amo n g my male and female friends, there are a few who
a re of either a co mpletely U ranian o r a bisexual dispos ition . I have
found these ind ividuals far above average in terms of i ntell igence,
ability, sensitivity and persona l charm . I em path ize deeply with the m ,
for I know that their suffe rings a re o f a larger a n d more co m plex so rt
than those of o rd inary peo p l e .
B ut there exists a mong very many ho mosexuals a predominant
intellectual o utlook which I m ust seriously challenge. I a m speaking
of the practise of cla i m i n g every possible prominent personality as
one of their own , attrib uting their own feeli ngs and character traits
to these peo p l e .
I f o n e w e re t o b e l i eve t h e ass u rances a n d c l a i m s of m a n y
ho mosexuals , o n e wo u l d be fo rced to the conclusion t h a t n o tru ly
g reat person is o r ever was to be found outside the circle of persons
of a d ifferent sexua l type. Social ostracism and persecution i nevitably

s pawn sectarianism ; but this outlook, narrow i n its perspective , often
renders people unjust in their p ra i se of others . Without wishi n g to
offend Herr von Levetzow in any way, I m ust say that he seems to
b e strongly influenced by the secta rian spirit of many homosexuals,
p erhaps unconsciously so.
Beyond that, he has a n a ntiq u ated conception of the essence of
woman hood . He sees in woman a being meant by natu re solely to
d el i g ht man with her attractiveness, bear his childre n , and oth er
wise fig u re as a domestic a n d g e n e ra l household slave. Any woman
who fa ils to meet these shopworn req u i re m e nts of woman hood is
p romptly ta ken as a U ranian by th i s writer. In light of the accomplish
m ents of women to date i n every sector of human intellectual l ife and
in effo rts fo r social c h a n g e , th i s trad i ti o n a l male conception of
woman hood scarcely deserves rega rd a n y longer.
I nonetheless fee l com pel led to p u rs u e the outmoded views of
this writer concerning Louise Michel to some extent, if only to show
t h e reader what nonsensical con c l u s i o n s can be reached if o n e
p roceeds from nonsensical pres u p positions . . .
Modern woman is no longer satisfied to be the beloved of a m a n ;
she looks for u nderstanding , com radesh i p ; she wants t o be treated
as a human being and not s i mply as an object for sexual g ratification .
And si nce man in many cases ca n n ot offer h e r thi s , she turns to her
s i sters .
[My only desire is to see M ichel] portrayed as she actually was:
a n extraord inary woman , a s i g n ificant thi n ke r and a p rofound sou l .
She represented a n ew type o f woman hood which i s nonetheless
a s old as the race, and she had a soul which was permeated by an
a l l-encompassing and all-understa n d i n g love for human ity.
In short, Louise Michel was a complete woma n , free of a" the
p rejudices and traditions which for centu ries held women i n chains
a n d degraded them to household s l aves and objects of sexual l u st.
emma and louise 115
The new woman celebrated h e r resurrection in the figure of Louise,

the woma n capable of heroic d eeds but one who remains a woma n
i n her passion a n d in h e r love .
From the 1 923 a rticle by E m m a Goldman in the Yearbook for Sexual
Intermediate Types, issued by the Scientific-H umanitarian C o m m ittee,

Germany's lead ing homosexual rights o rg a nization
( http://www.angelfire . com/ok/Flack/em m a . ht m l ) .
res o u rces
Books in English
B u l litt Lowry a n d Elizabeth E l l i n gton G unter ( e d s ) , The Red Virgin
- Memoirs of Louise Michel (Alabama: U n iversity of Alabama
Press , 1 98 1 ) .
G a y G u l lickso n , Unruly Women of Paris - Images o f the
Commune ( I thaca : Corn e l l U n iversity P ress, 1 996).
Eugene Sch ulkind , "Socialist Wom e n d u ring the 1 87 1 Paris
Commune," Past and Present, No. 1 06 ( 1 985 ).
Edith Thomas, Louise Michel (Montrea l : Black Rose Books, 1 980).
Edith Thomas, The Women Incendiaries (London : Secker and
Warburg , 1 967).
George Woodcock, Anarchism ( London : Pelica n , 1 962). Especi a l ly
C hapter 1 0: "Ana rchism i n F rance . "
Books i n French
Louise Miche l , Memoires (Aries: Ed itions S u l l i ver, 1 998). Originally
published i n 1 886 .
Louise Michel, La Commune - histoire et souvenirs ( Paris:
Editions La Decouverte , 1 999). Ori g i n a l ly published i n 1 898.
Louise Miche l , Aux amis d'Europe et Legendes et chansons de
gestes canaques (Noumea : Editions G ra i n de Sable, 1 996).
Originally publ ished i n 1 885.
Louise Miche l , Souvenirs et aventures de rna vie (Paris: Editions
La Decouverte/Maspero , 1 983). O ri g i n a l l y publ ished i n 1 905.
resou rces 1 17
Xaviere Gauthi e r, Louise Michel, je vous ecris de ma n uit -

Correspondance Generale 1 850- 1 904 (Pari s : Les editi o n s de
Paris, 1 999). Coll ected letters from 1 850 until her death .
Xaviere Ga uth i e r, La Vierge Rouge - biographie de Louise

Michel (Paris: Les editions d e Paris , 1 999)
Christi ne Roibeyreix, Louise Michel quand {'aurore se le vera

(Perigueux: La Lauze , 2002 ) .
Ed ith Thomas, Les Petroleuses (Paris: G a l l i mard , 1 963).
Ed ith Thomas, Louise Michel ou la Vel/eda de {'An archie ( Paris :

G a l l i mard , 1 97 1 ) .
On the Paris Com m u n e

Stewart Edward s , The Paris Commune, 1 8 7 1 (London : Eyre a n d
S pottiswoode , 1 97 1 ) .
Karl Marx, The Civil War in France (Beij i n g : Foreign Lan g u age
Press, 1 97 1 ) .
Karl Marx a n d Friedrich E n g e l s : O n the Paris Commune ( M oscow:

P rog ress Press, 1 97 1 ) .
Jacques Rougerie, Paris Insurge - l a Commune de 1 8 7 1 (Pari s :

Decouvertes G a l l i m a rd , 1 995).
Eugene Sch u l kind (ed ) , The Paris Commune of 1871 - The Vie w
From the Left (London : Jonathon C a p e , 1 972).
Websites and F i l m
The Siege a n d Commune o f Paris, 1 870-7 1 :
http://www. 1 i b ra ry. northwestern .ed u/spec/siege/

This s ite conta i n s l i n ks to over 1 , 200 dig itized photogra p h s and
i mages recorded d u ri n g the Siege and Commune of Paris c . 1 8 7 1 .
The Libra ry's S i ege & Com m u n e Coll ection contai ns 1 , 500
caricatu res , 68 newspapers i n hard copy a n d fil m , hund reds of
books and pamphlets and a bout 1 , 000 posters .
Paris Com m u ne webs ite:
http://www. a rts . u nsw. ed u . a u/parisco m m u n e/index.html

I n cludes extracts from Austra l i a n n ewspa p e rs reporti ng on the
Commune.
Anarchy arch ives l i n k s :
http ://dwardmac. pitzer. ed u/a n a rc h i st_archives/parisco m m u net

P a riscom munehistory. html
Karl Marx's The Civil War in France:
http://www. marxists.org/arch ive/ma rx/works/ 1 87 1 /civi l-wa r-fra n ce/

i ndex. htm
In French - background from Louise M ichel High Schoo l :
h ttp://www.ac-crete i l . fr/Louise/l o u i se/lou ise . htm
I n French - g o o d l ist o f websites about Louise:
h ttp://enjolras .free.fr/liens . html

h ttp://melior. u n iv-montp3 . fr/ra_foru m/fr/i n d ivi d u s/m icheUou i se/
i n d exJ html
Briti s h d i rector Peter Watki n s has prod u ced an ambitious

345-minute fil m , La Commune (Paris 1 8 7 1) , ava i lable on DV D and
video. For fu rther informatio n , see Part I I I of Peter Watkins fi l m site:
http://www. peterwatkins. ltlvaryk. htm
BIOGRAPHY/POLITICS/wO MEN'S STUDIES
US$1 1 .95
ISBN 1 -8761 75 -76-1

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a lso published in the rebel lives series :

Helen Keller, edited by John Davis

forthcoming in the rebel lives series :

Ho Chi Minh, edited by Alexandra Keeble

rebe I lives, a fresh new series of inexpensive, accessible and provoca­

introducing some lesser-known rebels

rebel lives, selections of writings by and about remarkable women

introduced by activists and researchers around the world, the series

presents stirring accounts of race, class and gender rebellion

stories of imperfect revolutionary human beings to a new generation of

readers and aspiring rebels

edited by Nic Maclellan

l\1 Ocean Press

Copyright © 2004 Ocean Press

Library of Congress Control No: 2004100834

First Printed in 2004

Published by Ocean Press

Australia: GPO Box 3279, Melbourne, Victoria 3001, Australia

Ocean Press Distributors:

United States and Canada: Consortium Book Sales and Distribution

Britain and Europe: Pluto Books

Australia and New Zealand: Palgrave Macmillan

Cuba and Latin America: Ocean Press

tribute to Louise Michel from Victor Hugo 24

chapter one: Early Life

Louise Michel: Sources of rebellion 28

chapter two: Seizing the Guns

Louise Michel: Seizing the guns 34

of the guns at Montmartre 36

chapter three: Paris Enraged

Friedrich Engels: History of the Commune 45

chapter four: When the Women Decide They

Louise Michel: On women's rights 60

chapter five: The First Dress Rehearsal in

chapter six: liThe Internationale"

chapter seven: Exile in New Caledonia

Louise Michel: Th e Kanaks were seeking the same liberty . . . 94

chapter eight: Authority Vested in One Person

Louise Michel: Statement to the military tribunal, 1871 1 00

chapter nine: Emma and Louise

Emma Goldman: There was spirit and youth in her eyes 1 09

Books in English 116

I n France, Louise M ichel is celebrated as the heroine of the Paris

As far back as I can remember, the origin of my revolt against

with Laurent Demahis' wife, who denounced her as a "bastard." At

age 21, she began studying to be a primary schoolteacher and in

September 1852, she became head teacher at a school in Audelon­

school to avoid pledging allegiance to Emperor Napoleon I I I, as was

required for public schoolteachers.) She traveled to Paris the next

year to teach, but returned to Haute-Marne after several months

w hen her mother fell sick.

Over t h e next few years, Mic hel taught at small schools at

Clefmont and Millieres in the Haute-Marne region. She experimen­

ted in libertarian teaching methods, using techniques ahead of her

I can't say it was entirely proper, as the Sorbonne understands

some land left to her by the Demahis family.

Struggle against the empire

engaged in the turbulent politics of the mid-19th century. Throughout

risings - in France, a republic was declared. But in 1851, the short­

lived French Republic was overthrown in a coup d'etat by Charles

Louis Napoleon Bonaparte (nephew of the famous general).

Louis Napoleon's Second Empire lasted until 1870, with support

from the conservative rural peasantry. By the end of his reign,

rebe I lives, a fresh new series of inexpensive, accessible and provoca

September 1852, she became head teacher at a school in Audelon

Clefmont and Millieres in the Haute-Marne region. She experimen

risings - in France, a republic was declared. But in 1851, the short

Prince Pierre Bonaparte, the emperor's cousin. Louise Michel atten

they soon defeated French Marshal MacMahon at Worth and Weis

of meetings and demonstrations began in London and other Euro

Chancellor Otto von Bismarck for permission to build up the Ver

defense of Paris. She fought in battles at Clamart, Neuilly and Issy

burned , Communard women were denounced as petroleuses (in