Memoirs

If the name of Jeanne d'Arc, the Maid of Orléans, is known to all, then the name "the Red Virgin of Montmartre" — Louise Michel (1830–1905) — is familiar to few Russian-speaking readers. A teacher, writer, and poetess, she corresponded for many years with Victor Hugo, was an active participant in the Paris Commune and a Blanquist, and later turned to anarchism, understanding it primarily as a moral choice and a protest against state violence and repressive institutions of power. A supporter of Bakunin and Kropotkin, Louise Michel went through several imprisonments and exile to New Caledonia, where she studied Kanak culture and folklore. As one of the first major figures of libertarian pedagogy in the 19th century, she spoke out against gender inequality, social injustice, racial oppression, colonialism, and the cruel treatment of animals. In 1886, Louise Michel wrote her memoirs, which are published for the first time in Russian.