Anarchist Tales for Rebel Children: Reading, Writing, and Revolution in Louise Michel’s Children’s Stories

Ever since her participation in the 1871 Paris Commune, Louise Michel has remained one of the most famous figures in French revolutionary politics. Much attention has been paid to Michel the pétroleuse , but this article deals with two other important — but little-discussed — aspects of her life: her teaching vocation and her passion for writing. Taking the example of her collection of children’s stories ( Le Livre du Jour de l’An , 1872) and its republication ( Contes et legends , 1884), I emphasize the central role of literature and pedagogy in her anarchist politics. The Third Republic invested in educational reform to realize its social vision and to cultivate good citizens. This article examines the anarchist critique of Republican education but also the anarchists’ own pedagogical ideas, especially their idea of education as utopian and revolutionary process, and the paradox of pedagogical authority. By exploring the influence of anarchist education on Michel’s stories, I propose that the most anarchist aspect of Michel’s texts can be found in the lessons in reading they offer. In turn, these lessons offer us lessons in an anarchist practice of (re-)reading and (re)writing that is essential to her literature and her politics. This article was published open access under a CC BY-NC-ND licence: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ .