Mémoires de Louise Michel (1886)
22 June 1883
It is a real political trail was that we are being subject to; it not us who are being prosecuted, it is the anarchist party that is prosecuted through us, and that is why I had to refuse the offers made to me by M. Balandreau and our friend Laguerre, who, not long ago, undertook to heartily defend our comrades in Lyon.
M. the Advocate General invoked the Law of 1871 against us; I do not bother to find out if this law of 1871 was not made by the victors against the vanquished, against those whom they then crushed as the grindstone crushes the grain; it was the time when they hunted the Federal in the plains, when Gallifet pursued us in the catacombs, when on both sides of the streets of Paris were heaps of corpses.[1] There is one thing which surprises you, that frightens you, it is a woman who dares to defend herself. You are not used to seeing a women who dares to think; you want, according to Proudhon’s expression, to see in woman a housewife or a courtesan!
We took the black flag because the demonstration was to be above all peaceful, because the black flag is the flag of strikes, the flag of those who are hungry. Could we take another one? The red flag is confined to the cemeteries, and should only be taken back when it can be defended. But, we could not do that; I told you and I repeat it, it was an essentially peaceful demonstration.
I went to the demonstration. I had to go. Why was I arrested? I have travelled across Europe, saying that I do not recognise borders, saying that all humanity has the right to the heritage of humanity. And this heritage will not belong to us, accustomed to living in slavery, but to those who will have freedom and who will be able to enjoy it. That is how we defend the Republic and when we are told that we are its enemies, there is just one thing to reply, that we have founded it on thirty-five thousand of our corpses.
You speak of discipline, of soldiers who fired at their commanders. Do you believe, M. Advocate General, that if at Sedan they had fired at their commanders who betraying them, they would not have done well? We would not have had the muds of Sedan.
M. Advocate General has talked a lot about the soldiers; he praised those who reported anarchist manifestos to their commanders. Are there many officers, are there many generals who have reported the largesse of Chantilly and the manifestos of M. Bonaparte? Not that I put Orleans or M. Bonaparte on trial, we only put their ideas on trial. You have acquitted M. Bonaparte, and we are being prosecuted; I forgive those who commit crime, I do not forgive the crime. Is it not the law of strong which dominates us? We want to replace it with right, and therein lies our crime.
Above the courts, beyond the twenty years in prison that you can pronounce, beyond even life in prison if you wish, I see the dawn of liberty and equality breaking. But wait, you too, you are tired of it, you are sickened by what is going on around you!... Can you watch in cold blood the proletarian constantly suffering from hunger whilst others gorge themselves?
We knew that the demonstration at the Invalids would not succeed, and yet it was necessary to go there. Today we are in complete poverty… We do not call this regime a republic. We would call a regime the republic where we could move forward, where there would be justice, where there would be bread for all. But how does your republic differ from the Empire? What say you of freedom for the tribune with five years of prison afterwards?
I do not want the cry of the workers to be lost, you will do with me what you will; it is not about me, because a large part of France, a large part of the world, is becoming more and more anarchist. We are sick of seeing power such as it was under M. Bonaparte. We have already led many revolutions! Sedan has rid us of M. Bonaparte, we made one on 18 March.[2] You will doubtless see them again, and this is why we march full of confidence towards the future! Without individual authority, there would be light, there would be truth, there would be justice. Individual authority is a crime. What we want is authority for all. M. Advocate General accused me of wanting to be a leader: I have too much pride for that, for I cannot demean myself and to be a leader is to demean yourself.
Here we are very far from M. Moricet’s bakery, and I have some difficult returning to those details. Must we talk about these crumbs distributed to children? It was not this bread that we needed, it was bread from work that we demanded. How can you expect reasonable men to take pleasure in grabbing some bread? I do not mind that kids collected crumbs, but it is tedious for me to discuss such trivial things. I prefer to return to grand ideas. Let the youth work instead of going to the café, and they will learn to fight to improve the plight of the wretched, to prepare for the future.
They know only of homeland to make a home for war; they know only of borders to make them the subject of intrigues. We conceive of homeland, family, in a wider, more extensive sense. Here are our crimes.
We are in an age of anxiety, everybody seeks his path, we will speak anyway: Come what may! Let freedom be created! Let equality be created, and we will be happy!
[1] The Communards called themselves “Federals” (fédérés); Gaston Alexandre Auguste, Marquis de Galliffet, Prince de Martigues (1830-1909) was a French general who was commander of troops during the repression of the Paris Commune. (Translator)
[2] A reference to the Paris Commune. (Translator)