Louise Michel (French: [lwiz miʃɛl] ^ⓘ; 29 May 1830 – 9 January 1905), also known by her nickname of Enjolras, was a French teacher, writer, poet, philosopher, Communard, and anarchist. A major figure in the Paris Commune, where she was militarily and politically involved and was one of the most famous representatives of the role played by women in the Paris Commune, she was also a feminist figure and became one of the key personalities of anarchism during her lifetime, a movement she joined after the Commune and profoundly influenced.

Concerned with education from an early age, she taught for several years before moving to Paris in 1856. At the age of 26, she developed significant literary, educational, and political activity there and connected with several Blanquist revolutionary figures in Paris during the 1860s.

In 1871, she actively participated in the events of the Paris Commune, both on the front line and in support. Having turned herself in in May to secure her mother's release, she was deported to New Caledonia, where she converted to anarchist thought. She returned to mainland France in 1880, thanks to the amnesty for the Communards, and, being very popular, participated in numerous demonstrations and meetings in favor of the working class. She remained under police surveillance and was imprisoned several times but continued her political activism throughout France until her death at the age of 74 in Marseille.

She remains a prominent revolutionary and anarchist figure in the collective imagination. The first anarchist to display the black flag during the demonstration of 9 March 1883, she popularized it within the anarchist movement. She was also a precursor on the issue of animal welfare, denouncing animal cruelty and exploitation, in particular, alongside that of human beings.

Louise Michel was born May 29, 1830 to Marianne Michel, a domestic worker, and Laurent Demahis. She was raised by her paternal grandparents, Charlotte and Charles-Étienne Demahis, in northeastern France. She spent her childhood in the Château de Vroncourt and was provided with a liberal education. When her grandparents died, she completed teacher training and worked in villages.

In 1865 Michel opened a school in Paris which became known for its modern and progressive methods. She corresponded with the prominent French romanticist Victor Hugo and began publishing poetry. She became involved in the radical politics of Paris and among her associates were Auguste Blanqui, Jules Vallès and Théophile Ferré. In 1869 the feminist group Société pour la Revendication des Droits Civils de la Femme (Society for the Demand of Civil Rights for Women) was announced by André Léo. Among the members of the group were Michel, Paule Minck, Eliska Vincent, Élie Reclus and his wife Noémi Reclus, Mme Jules Simon, Caroline de Barrau and Maria Deraismes. Because of the broad range of opinions, the group decided to focus on the subject of improving girls' education.

Commonly known as the Revendication des Droits de la Femme (Demand for Women's Rights), the group had close ties with the Société Coopérative des Ouvriers et Ouvrières (Cooperative Society of Men and Women Workers). The July 1869 manifesto of the Revendication des Droits de la Femme was thus signed by the wives of militant cooperative members. The manifesto was also supported by Sophie Doctrinal, signing with Citoyenne Poirier (citizen Poirier), who would later become a close associate of Michel in the Paris Commune. In January 1870 Michel and Léo attended the funeral of Victor Noir. Michel expressed disappointment that the death of Noir had not been used to overthrow the Empire. At the start of the Siege of Paris, in November 1870, Léo in a lecture declared "It is not a question of our practicing politics, we are human, that is all."

During the siege, Michel became part of the National Guard. When the Paris Commune was declared she was elected head of the Montmartre Women's Vigilance Committee. In April 1871 she threw herself into the armed struggle against the French government. Her close ally, Théophile Ferré, was a senior member of the Commune and of its Committee of Public Safety. It was Ferré who ordered the execution of Georges Darboy, the Archbishop of Paris. She was aligned with Ferré and Raoul Rigault, two of the most militant members of the Paris Commune. However, Ferré and Rigault persuaded her to not carry out her plan to assassinate Adolphe Thiers, the chief executive of the French national government. Michel fought with the 61st Battalion of Montmartre and organized ambulance stations during the beginning of the Bloody Week (May 21–28, 1871), the battle that ended the Commune In her memoirs she later wrote "oh, I'm a savage all right, I like the smell of gunpowder, grapeshot flying through the air, but above all, I'm devoted to the Revolution." On May 23, after a fierce fight, Montmartre was captured by the French Army. On May 24, she surrendered to the French army in order to save her mother from possible imprisonment.