Jim Jones

=== Escape to Guyana ===
{{Location map many
| Guyana
| label=Jonestown
| label_size=100
| pos=bottom | bg=yellow
| lat=7.66 | long=-60.19
| marksize=8
| label2=Georgetown
| label2_size=70
| lat2=6.81| long2=-58.16
| mark2size=7
| label3=Kaituma
| label3_size=70
| pos3=right
| lat3=7.84 | long3=-60.01
| mark3size=7
| width=150
| float=right
| background=#FFFFDD
| caption=Peoples Temple Agricultural Project (Jonestown, Guyana).
}}

In the fall of 1973, Jones and the Planning Commission devised a plan to escape from the United States in the event of a government raid, and they began to develop a longer-term plan to relocate Peoples Temple. The group decided on Guyana as a favorable location, citing its recent revolution, socialist government, and the favorable reaction Jones received when he traveled there in 1963.{{sfn|Reiterman|Jacobs|1982|pp=236–237}} In October, the group voted unanimously to set up an agricultural commune in Guyana. In December, Jones and James traveled to Guyana to find a suitable location.{{sfn|Reiterman|Jacobs|1982|p=288}}

In a newspaper interview, Jones indicated that he would rather settle his commune in a communist country like China or the [[Soviet Union]], and was saddened about his inability to do so.<ref name="goodlett">{{cite book|last=Goodlett|first=Carlton B.|author-link=Carlton Benjamin Goodlett|year=1989|pages= 43–51|url=https://jonestown.sdsu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/The-Need-for-a-Second-Look-at-Jonestown.pdf|title=The Need for a Second Look at Jonestown|editor1-last=Moore|editor1-first=Rebecca|editor2-last=McGehee|editor2-first=Fielding M.|publisher=[[Edwin Mellen Press]]|location=[[Lewiston, New York]]; [[Queenston]], and [[Lampeter]]|isbn=0-88946-649-1}}</ref> Jones described [[Vladimir Lenin|Lenin]] and Stalin as his heroes, and saw the Soviet Union as an ideal society.<ref name="sdsuwhatwas">{{Cite web |title=What was Peoples Temple's plan to move to the Soviet Union?|url=https://jonestown.sdsu.edu/?page_id=35388|publisher=San Diego State University |access-date=April 27, 2022 |language=en-US|date=July 25, 2013|website=Alternative Considerations of Jonestown and Peoples Temple}}</ref>{{sfn|Guinn|2017|pp=391, 408}}

By the summer of 1974, land and supplies were purchased in Guyana.{{sfn|Reiterman|Jacobs|1982|p=242}} Jones was put in charge of the project and oversaw the installation of a power generation station, clearance of fields for farming, and the construction of dormitories to prepare for the first settlers.{{sfn|Reiterman|Jacobs|1982|p=246}} In December 1974, the first group arrived in Guyana to start operating the commune that would become known as Jonestown.{{sfn|Reiterman|Jacobs|1982|p=247}}

Jones left James to oversee Jonestown while he returned to the United States to continue his efforts to combat the negative press. He was largely unsuccessful and more stories of abuse in Peoples Temple were leaked to the public. In March 1977, [[Marshall Kilduff]] published a story in [[California (magazine, defunct 1991)|''New West'' magazine]] exposing abuses at the Peoples Temple. The article included allegations by Temple defectors of [[Physical abuse|physical]], [[Psychological abuse|emotional]], and [[sexual abuse]].<ref name="kilduff" />{{sfn|Reiterman|Jacobs|1982|p=314}}{{sfn|Layton|1998|pp=324–325}}

The article convinced Jones that it was time to permanently relocate to South America, and he began to compel members of Peoples Temple to make the move with him. Jones promoted the commune as a means to create both a "socialist paradise" and a "[[sanctuary]]" from the media scrutiny in San Francisco.{{sfn|Hall|1987|p=132}} Jones purported to establish it as a model communist community, adding that the Temple comprised "the purest communists there are".<ref name="q50">{{cite web|author=Jones, Jim|url=http://jonestown.sdsu.edu/?page_id=27298|title=Transcript of Recovered FBI tape Q50|website=Alternative Considerations of Jonestown and Peoples Temple|publisher=San Diego State University|access-date=November 12, 2021}}</ref> Once they arrived in Jonestown, Jones prevented members from leaving the settlement.{{sfn|Reiterman|Jacobs|1982|p=451}} Entertaining movies from Georgetown that the settlers had watched were mostly cancelled in favor of [[Propaganda in the Soviet Union|Soviet propaganda]] shorts and documentaries on American social problems. Lessons on Soviet affiliations, Jones' crises, and the alleged "mercenaries" dispatched by Tim Stoen, who had defected from the Temple and turned against the group, were the topic of adult midnight lectures and classroom discussions of Jones' discourses about revolution and adversaries.{{Citation needed|date=November 2023}}

Jonestown had about 50 settlers at the start of 1977 who were expanding the commune, but it was not ready to handle a large influx of settlers.{{sfn|Reiterman|Jacobs|1982|p=312}}{{sfn|Chidester|2004|p=9}} Bureaucratic requirements after Jones' arrival sapped labor resources for other needs. Buildings fell into disrepair and weeds encroached on fields. James warned Jones that the facilities could only support 200 people, but Jones believed the need to relocate was urgent and determined to move immediately. In May 1977, Jones and about 600 of his followers arrived in Jonestown; about 400 more followed in the subsequent months.{{sfn|Reiterman|Jacobs|1982|p=231}} Jones began moving the Temple's financial assets overseas and started to sell off property in the United States. The Peoples Temple had over $10 million (${{formatnum:{{Inflation|US|10000000|1977|2020}}}} in 2020) dollars in assets at the time.{{sfn|Reiterman|Jacobs|1982|p=334}} Despite the negative press prior to his departure, Jones was still well respected outside of Peoples Temple for setting up a racially integrated church which helped the disadvantaged; 68% of Jonestown residents were black.<ref>{{cite book|url=http://jonestown.sdsu.edu/?page_id=35666|title=The Demographics of Jonestown|author1= Moore, Rebecca |author2-link=Anthony B. Pinn |author2=Pinn, Anthony |author3=Sawyer, Mary|year=2004|pages=57–80|quote=From Peoples Temple and Black Religion in America: Demographics and the Black Religious Culture of Peoples Temple|location= Bloomington|publisher= [[Indiana University Press]]}}</ref>

For the first several months, Temple members worked six days a week, from approximately 6:30&nbsp;a.m. to 6:00&nbsp;p.m., with an hour for lunch.<ref>{{Harvnb|Reiterman|Jacobs|1982|p=322}}</ref> The work week was shortened to eight hours a day for five days a week in the middle of 1978 after Jones' health started to fail and his wife started taking on more of the management of Jonestown's activities. After the day's work ended, Temple members would attend several hours of activities in a pavilion, including classes in socialism. Jones compared this schedule to the North Korean system of eight hours of daily work followed by eight hours of study.<ref>Jones, Jim. FBI tape Q 320.</ref><ref>Martin, Bradley K. ''Under the Loving Care of the Fatherly Leader''. New York: St. Martin's Press, 2004. {{ISBN|0312322216}}, p. 159.</ref> This also comported with the Temple's practice of gradually subjecting its followers to sophisticated [[mind control]] and [[behavior modification]] techniques borrowed from [[North Korea|Kim Il-sung's Korea]] and [[History of the People's Republic of China (1949–76)|Mao Zedong's China]].<ref name="raven280">{{Harvnb|Reiterman|Jacobs|1982|pp=163–164}}</ref> Jones would often read news and commentary, including items from [[Radio Moscow]] and [[Radio Havana]], and was known to side with the Soviets over the Chinese during the [[Sino-Soviet split]].<ref>See for example Jim Jones, [http://jonestown.sdsu.edu/?page_id=27358 Transcript of Recovered FBI tape Q 182] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150205012159/http://jonestown.sdsu.edu/?page_id=27358 |date=February 5, 2015 }}. ''Alternative Considerations of Jonestown and Peoples Temple''. Jonestown Project: San Diego State University. ".... in China, when their foreign policy's so bad, they ''still'' have self-criticism and group criticism. Unfortunately, not enough about their foreign policy. But in the Soviet Union, they have it.... The sale of nearly 30,000 pounds of copper to China has been announced by the Ministry of Mining in Industry of Chile. Another blunder of China's foreign policy, supporting fascist regimes... In spite of the beauty of China, what it's done domestically, getting rid of the rats, the flies... ''nothing'' justifies this kind of uh, inexcusable behavior. That's why we're pro-Soviet. That's why we stand by the Soviet Union as the avant-garde, because this is a ''hellish'' thing to do, to support one of the most brutal fascist regimes, who has tortured ''dark'' members{{snd}}the black members of its population, presently more than any other color on up to how white your skin determines your rank in Chilean society."</ref>

Jones' news readings usually portrayed the U.S. as a "capitalist" and "imperialist" villain, while casting "socialist" leaders, such as [[Kim Il Sung]],<ref name="q216">Jim Jones, [http://jonestown.sdsu.edu/?page_id=27379 ''Transcript of Recovered FBI tape Q 216''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150205013606/http://jonestown.sdsu.edu/?page_id=27379 |date=February 5, 2015 }}. ''Alternative Considerations of Jonestown and Peoples Temple''. Jonestown Project: San Diego State University.</ref> [[Robert Mugabe]],<ref name="q322">Jim Jones, [http://jonestown.sdsu.edu/?page_id=27422 ''Transcript of Recovered FBI tape Q 322''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170516162440/http://jonestown.sdsu.edu/?page_id=27422 |date=May 16, 2017 }}. ''Alternative Considerations of Jonestown and Peoples Temple''. Jonestown Project: San Diego State University.</ref> and [[Joseph Stalin]]<ref name="q161">Jim Jones, [http://jonestown.sdsu.edu/?page_id=27349 ''Transcript of Recovered FBI tape Q 161''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150205013922/http://jonestown.sdsu.edu/?page_id=27349 |date=February 5, 2015 }}. ''Alternative Considerations of Jonestown and Peoples Temple''. Jonestown Project: San Diego State University.</ref> in a positive light. Recordings of commune meetings show how livid and frustrated Jones would get when anyone did not understand or find interesting the message Jones was placing upon them. Jones forced every member of the Peoples Temple to say they were [[homosexuality|homosexual]], while proclaiming himself the only [[heterosexuality|heterosexual]]. In spite of this, Jones was [[bisexuality|bisexual]], having sex with both male and female followers in Jonestown. Women who slept with him claimed he was the best lover they ever had; Peoples Temple member Tim Cater felt Jones "put them up to that kind of talk."<ref name=nyt>{{cite web|last1=Ordheimer|first1=Jonn|title=I Never Once Thought He Was Crazy'
|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1978/11/27/archives/i-never-once-thought-he-was-crazy-claims-of-superiority-unlimited.html|website=The New York Times|access-date=November 28, 2023|date=November 27, 1978|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231122061229/https://www.nytimes.com/1978/11/27/archives/i-never-once-thought-he-was-crazy-claims-of-superiority-unlimited.html|archive-date=November 22, 2023}}</ref>