Louise Michel

Louise Michel was a communard and a teacher, who was brought to trial at the age of 36 by the Versailles Government. She is accused of:

1. Trying to overthrow the government.
2. Encouraging citizens to arm themselves.
3. Possession and use of weapons, and wearing a military uniform.
4. Forgery of a document.
5. Using a false document.
6. Planning to assassinate hostages.
7. Illegal arrests, torturing and killing.

For her heroic role in the Paris Commune, Louise was sent to a prison colony and spent four months locked in a cage on a prison ship with Natalie Lemel, who converted her to anarchism. Later she was allowed to educate the Kanak children of New Caledonia where she was exiled. France granted amnesty in 1880, but Louise moved to England when she discovered a plot to have her committed to an insane asylum.

After an assassin attempted to take her life, she defended him in court, claiming “he was misled by an evil society.”

External links

• http://flag.blackened.net/revolt/ws98/ws55_louise.html
• http://www.iisg.nl/today/en/16-12.php