Louise Michel

Born: Saturday, 29 May 1830
Died: Monday, 09 January 1905

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Louise Michel was a human rights activist, freedom fighter, and Freemason who embodied the Masonic ideals of Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity.

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Louise Michel is one of the great names in French anarchism. A fighter for freedom wherever she went, Louise could be found preaching the doctrine of anarchist liberation to whomever would listen. Born in France right before the July 1830 Revolution, Louise was an illegitimate daughter of a maid who felt a sense of class distinctions and struggles all her life. It is unknown when exactly she became a Freemason, but her personal ideals and the ideals of Freemasonry were never far off. Her love of the masonic ideals of Liberty, Equality and Fraternity was evident in both her words and actions.

Louise is most famous for fighting in the Paris commune, a spontaneous uprising of the common people of Paris against government and authority in 1870. Happening in the midst of the Franco-Prussian war, the French government was initially too distracted to try to reassert control of the city. The commune developed its own government and army, in which Louis served as an officer. She constantly advocated for more equal treatment of women by the commune leaders. And when the armies of France eventually stormed a commune a year later, she fought valiantly for her ideals until captured.

After the commune, she was exiled to New Caledonia - a French Pacific colony. There she joined the native population in an uprising against their French colonial masters. Eventually, she was allowed to return to France, where she never ceased to advocate for revolution to bring equality to the people of Europe and the world. Here she stood alongside Masonic Greats like Maria Deraismes and George Martin in advocating for gender equality, until her death in 1905. He life was a testament to her dedication to the principles of Freemasonry.