How Louise Michel Helped Animals
In her lifetime, Louise Michel was known for a form of compassion that reached far beyond human society. Long before the modern idea of animal rights existed, she argued that cruelty was indivisible - that how we treat the powerless, whether human or animal, reveals the moral character of a society.
This article accompanies The Little School for Big Dreams, a short story in the Louise Michel series that explores this side of her life. The story is inspired by her values and by the ethical vision that shaped everything she did.
A Childhood Surrounded by Animals
Louise Michel’s relationship with animals began early. Growing up in the countryside of Haute-Marne, she lived in close proximity to dogs, cats, horses, birds, and wild creatures. Animals were not distant or decorative in her childhood - they were part of her daily world.
From a young age, she felt instinctively that vulnerability created a bond between beings. Animals, like children and the poor, lived at the mercy of forces beyond their control. This awareness shaped her lifelong belief that strength did not grant the right to dominate.
For Louise, kindness was never selective. To oppose cruelty in one place but accept it in another was, in her eyes, a contradiction.
Cruelty as a Single System
Louise Michel saw suffering as interconnected. Whether it was a bird harmed by thoughtlessness or a family displaced by injustice, she believed the same moral failure lay beneath it.
This conviction explains why her revolutionary politics always included concern for animals. She rejected violence inflicted for convenience, entertainment, or profit, and she criticized societies that normalized the suffering of any living being.
Her compassion was not sentimental. It was principled. A world that allowed suffering at its margins - human or animal - was, to her, deeply flawed.
Teaching Children to Care
When Louise became a teacher, these beliefs naturally entered her classroom. Education, for her, was not only about knowledge, but about learning how to see others - especially the vulnerable - with clarity and respect.
The Little School for Big Dreams draws directly from this side of Louise’s life. It follows her into a world where young people are just beginning to notice things adults often miss - who is being pushed aside, who needs help, and when it’s time to step in. The story moves through moments of tension, quick thinking, and surprising connection, guided by the same sharp sense of right and wrong that made Louise who she was.
Louise trusted children deeply. She believed they were capable of generosity, justice, and action - and that teaching them to care for others was one of the most powerful forms of education.
Care as Radical Practice
What made Louise Michel’s concern for animals radical was that she refused to separate compassion from politics. Even while facing exile, imprisonment, and constant surveillance, she continued to insist that a just society must be built on care, not cruelty.
For her, protecting the vulnerable was not a distraction from revolution - it was part of it. Gentleness, responsibility, and mutual care were not weaknesses. They were the foundation of a better world.
Why This Story Matters
I was drawn to this aspect of Louise Michel’s life because it reveals something essential about who she was. Her radicalism was not only expressed through speeches and uprisings, but through everyday choices - in how she treated those with the least power.
The Little School for Big Dreams is inspired by that spirit. It invites readers to see Louise not only as a rebel and a thinker, but as someone who believed that compassion itself could change the world.
That is why Educator belongs alongside Exiled, Radical, and Rebel. Together, they tell the story of a woman who believed that protecting life - any life - was one of the most courageous acts there is.