Louise Olivereau

Overview

Louise Olivereau born Douglas, WY April 9, 1884 (d. 1963). Seattle stenographer poet, pacifist and philosophical anarchist, opposed to all force and violence; sentenced 1917 to 10 years prison for "espionage" of counseling conscientious objection to World War I, served 28 months.

Quotations

"We do not counsel resistance. . . We counsel one thing—obedience to your own conscience." (Sarah E. Sharbach, "A Woman Acting Alone: Louise Olivereau and the First World War", Pacific Northwest Quarterly, vol. 78, pp. 1-2, January-April 1987)

"Anarchy, then, is a condition without force or violence. Anarchism is the working philosophy of those who desire to bring about a condition of society in which force and violence will have no place. . . I am convinced that violence breeds violence, war breeds hatreds and fears and revengeful desires which lead to other wars." (her trial defense, in Minnie Parkhurst, "The Louise Olivereau Case", p. 23, 1917; photo from prison http://bit.ly/J0YdRL)