The Peoples Temple Agricultural Project, better known by its informal name “Jonestown”, was a remote settlement in Guyana, established by the Peoples Temple, a San Francisco-based cult under the leadership of Jim Jones. Listen to an audiobook on Jonestown for free: https://www.amazon.com/gp/search?ie=UTF8&tag=tra0c7-20&linkCode=ur2&linkId=72cf442f293aa9c43f5d1803934cd95a&camp=1789&creative=9325&index=books&keywords=jonestown%20audiobook

The settlement became internationally known when, on November 18, 1978, a total of 909 people died at the settlement, at the nearby airstrip in Port Kaituma, and at a Temple-run building in Georgetown, Guyana’s capital city. The name of the settlement became synonymous with the incidents at those locations.

In total, 918 individuals died in Jonestown, all but two from apparent cyanide poisoning (a significant number of whom were injected against their will), in an event termed “revolutionary suicide” by Jones and some Peoples Temple members on an audio tape of the event, and in prior recorded discussions. The poisonings in Jonestown followed the murder of five others by Temple members at Port Kaituma, including United States Congressman Leo Ryan, an act that Jones ordered. Four other Temple members committed murder–suicide in Georgetown at Jones’ command.

Terms used to describe the deaths in Jonestown and Georgetown evolved over time. Many contemporary media accounts after the events called the deaths a mass suicide. In contrast, most sources today refer to the deaths with terms such as mass murder–suicide, a massacre, or simply mass murder. Seventy or more individuals at Jonestown were injected with poison, and a third of the victims (304) were minors. Guards armed with guns and crossbows had been ordered to shoot those who fled the Jonestown pavilion as Jones lobbied for suicide.

The Peoples Temple was formed in Indianapolis, Indiana, in 1955.[14] Though its roots and teachings shared more with Christian revival movements than with Marxism, it purported to practice what it called “apostolic socialism”.[15][16] In doing so, the Temple preached that “those who remained drugged with the opiate of religion had to be brought to enlightenment—socialism.”[17][18] In the early 1960s, Jones visited Guyana – then a British colony – while on his way to establishing a short-lived Temple mission in Brazil.[19]

After Jones received considerable criticism in Indiana for his integrationist views, the Temple moved to Redwood Valley, California in 1965.[20] In the early 1970s, the Temple opened other branches in Los Angeles and San Francisco, and would eventually move its headquarters to San Francisco.[21]

With the move to San Francisco came increasing political involvement by the Temple and the high levels of approval they received from the local government.[22] After the group’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.[23] Unlike many other figures who are considered cult leaders, Jones enjoyed public support and contact with some of the highest level politicians in the United States. Jones met with vice presidential candidate Walter Mondale and First Lady Rosalynn Carter. Guests at a large 1976 testimonial dinner for Jones included California Governor Jerry Brown, Lieutenant Governor Mervyn Dymally, and California Assemblyman Willie Brown, among others.[24]

In 1979, Joseph Hollinger, a former aide to Congressman Leo Ryan who was killed at Jonestown, claimed that Jonestown was a “mass mind control experiment” conducted by the CIA. A 1980 newspaper column by Jack Anderson also claimed that the CIA was involved in the Jonestown Massacre, and speculated that Deputy Chief of Mission of the U.S. Embassy to Guyana Richard Dwyer had ties to the CIA.[215] In 1980, an investigation by the United States House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence found no evidence of CIA activity in Jonestown.[210]

In 1987, The Jonestown Carnage: A CIA Crime (1978) (Russian: Гибель Джонстауна – преступление ЦРУ) was published in the Soviet Union, claiming that group members were assassinated by CIA agents and mercenaries to prevent further political emigration from the U.S. as well as suppress opposition to the U.S. regime. Political scientist Janos Radvanyi cites the book as an example of Soviet active measures during the 1980s that “spread both disinformation stories and enemy propaganda against the United States”, adding, “It’s hard to imagine that anyone could believe so ridiculous a story”.[216]

According to Religious Studies scholar Rebecca Moore, “In the twenty-three years since the deaths in Jonestown, conspiracy theories have blossomed in number and sophistication.”

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonestown

Image: Nancy Wong, CC BY-SA 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

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