Oliver Cromwell, Lord Protector, Commonwealth of England
posted by Kaihsu Tai on September 3rd, 2007
Today on the 349th anniversary of his death, let us remember Oliver Cromwell, Lord Protector, Commonwealth of England, who prayed:
Strengthen us O God, to relieve the oppressed,
to hear the groans of poor prisoners,
to reform the abuses of all professions;
that many be made not poor to make a few rich;
for Jesus Christ’s sake.
Amen.

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Is this a joke?
I don’t know much about Cromwell, but from what I know I share Jim’s concern. I’m sure OC had many admirable points, but overall I don’t think he’s a figure I’d like to emulate myself.
Kaihsu, can you elaborate on your favorite aspects of Cromwell?
From Wikipedia:
To show how little I know of Cromwell, I was totally surprised to read that the English regard him as a great figure of their history.
you do have to be kidding – this guy is one of the most hated figures of empire by the Irish and their diaspora. Trust me, he is no hero to us, but a vicious thug. Just like Churchill, who ranked the Irish as subhuman. Give me a break. Metnioning Cromwell and Jesus in the same breath is stunning.
Well here’s some more Cromwell trivia for you Mike. Cromwell defeated the crown at the Battle of Worcester; Worcester, MA was named in tribute of Cromwell for that defeat. And yes, if you adjust for population Cromwells Irish campaign was astounding for both military and civilian deaths.
There’s no doubt he is a ‘great’ figure in English history. But he is also the father of an ideology which taught the early Mass Bay Colony to justify their killing of innocents as protection of their particularly boring version of reality.
Remind me when Jan 30th rolls around so we can celebrate Cromwells posthumous execution. Nothing warms the heart more than the head of a tyrant on a pike.
Any Irishman or Irish-American who is not brain dead knows that Cromwell was a genocidal monster who used his Proetestant piety as a justificvation for torture, murder and the theft of land. Save us all from such pious souls.
New book: The Levellers: The Putney Debates introduced by Geoffrey Robinson. ISBN 978-1-84467-175-5.
Cromwell was great for his country, though he did kill off some of the irish, but only to defend his place in the government from the royalists.
Churchill is great don’t know what you people are talking about.
And any of you irish people out there, I think you are taking a very pregidous view of this guy. I’m american, and I’m doing a project on him.
Honestly he did a good job for the position he had to take, and for his country, even if he might have shoved off some of the others. When you look at it from his point of view he was a bit better than you seem to take him.