American Politics & Adventure - The People's Temple Jonestown Guyana Massacre: A 'Reason' to Die

• published: 08 Nov 2014
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The Peoples Temple was formed in Indianapolis, Indiana, during the mid-1950s. Though its roots and teachings shared more with biblical church and Christian revival movements than with Marxism, it purported to practice what it called "apostolic socialism". In doing so, the Temple preached that "those who remained drugged with the opiate of religion had to be brought to enlightenment — socialism." In the early 1960s, Jones visited Guyana – then still a British colony – while on his way to establishing a short-lived Temple mission in Brazil. After Jones received considerable criticism in Indiana for his integrationist views, the Temple moved to Redwood Valley, California in 1965. In the early 1970s, the Peoples Temple opened other branches in Bay View La Romaine, including San Fernando and San Francisco. In the mid-1970s, the Temple moved its headquarters to San Francisco. With the move to San Francisco came increasing political involvement by the Peoples Temple. After the Temple's participation proved instrumental in the mayoral election victory of George Moscone in 1975, Moscone appointed Jones as the Chairman of the San Francisco Housing Authority Commission. Unlike other figures considered as cult leaders, Jones enjoyed public support and contact with some of the highest level politicians in the United States. For example, Jones met with Vice President Walter Mondale and First Lady Rosalynn Carter several times. Governor Jerry Brown, Lieutenant Governor Mervyn Dymally, and Assemblyman Willie Brown, among others, attended a large testimonial dinner in honor of Jones in September 1976. In the Fall of 1973, after critical newspaper articles by Lester Kinsolving and the defection of eight Temple members, Jones and Temple member Tim Stoen prepared an "immediate action" contingency plan for responding to a police or media crackdown. The plan listed various options, including fleeing to Canada or to a "Caribbean missionary post", such as Barbados or Trinidad. For its "Caribbean missionary post", the Temple quickly chose Guyana, conducting research on its economy and extradition treaties with the United States. In October 1973, the directors of the Peoples Temple passed a resolution to establish an agricultural mission there. The Temple chose Guyana, in part, because of its own socialist politics, which were moving further to the left during the selection process. Former Temple member Tim Carter stated that the reasons for choosing Guyana were the Temple's view of a perceived dominance of racism and multinational corporations in the U.S. government. Carter said the Temple concluded that Guyana, a predominantly Indian, English-speaking socialist country, would afford black members of the Temple a peaceful place to live. Later, Guyanese Prime Minister Forbes Burnham stated that Jones may have "wanted to use cooperatives as the basis for the establishment of socialism, and maybe his idea of setting up a commune meshed with that." Jones also thought that Guyana, with a government consisting of black leaders, was small and poor enough for him to easily obtain influence and official protection. In 1974, after travelling to an area of northwestern Guyana with Guyanese officials, Jones and the Peoples Temple negotiated a lease of over 3,800 acres (15.4 km²) of jungle land located 150 miles (240 km) west of the Guyanese capital of Georgetown. The site was isolated and had soil of low fertility, even by Guyanese standards. The nearest body of water was seven miles (11 km) away by muddy roads. The site chosen for Jonestown was advantageous not only for Jim Jones, but for Burnham and the Guyanese government at the time; Jonestown stood not far from Guyana's disputed border with Venezuela, and the Guyanese knew that the Venezuelans would be reluctant to mount a military incursion on the land if it risked American lives. In the summer of 1976, Jones and several hundred Temple members moved to Jonestown to escape building pressure from San Francisco media investigations. Jones left the same night that an editor at New West magazine read him an article to be published by Marshall Kilduff detailing allegations of abuse by former Temple members. After the mass migration, Jonestown became overcrowded. Jonestown's population was just under 1,000 at its peak in 1978.