The Women Incendiaries

The Women Incendiaries tells the often overlooked story of the crucial role played by women during the Paris Commune of 1871, one of history's most important experiments in working-class democracy.

The workers of Paris took control of their city for two months during the spring of 1871. In their first manifesto, as Eleanor Marx described, "they declared they 'understood it was their imperious duty and their absolute right to render themselves masters of their own destinies by seizing upon governmental power.'" After electing a municipal council of workers and soldiers to govern in the interests of all workers, declaring that "the flag of the Commune is the flag of the World Republic," the Commune quickly issued a series of decrees, including limiting the highest salary for any employee of the Commune to a typical workers' wage and establishing the separation of church and state.

Women played a courageous role in defending the Commune, while at the same time challenging the limitations placed on women in French society. Louise Michel was one of them. Facing trial after her arrest, Michel told the court, "Since it seems that every heart beats for freedom has no right to anything but a little slug of lead, I demand my share. If you let me live, I shall never cease to cry for vengeance." Michel we sentenced to exile for her role in the Commune. But she was not forgotten. When she finally returned in November 1880 to Paris, ten thousand workers greeted her at the train station.