Poisoning Plot Against Jim Jones (10/5/78)

The bulk of this tape consists of Jim Jones reading the news of the day from October 5, 1978 in Jonestown, but the most significant part of the recording is in the last 15 minutes, when Jones returns to the microphone numerous times – first with increasing stridency, then with a flattening lethargy – to complain that someone has attempted to poison his food. He has avoided the most severe effects of the assault because he didn’t eat all of the food, even though both he and an unnamed nurse became ill. He tries to determine who is behind the scheme – at one point, it seems he will discern the culprit by looking at pictures of Jonestown residents – and his threats become more dire. “You better quit trying to poison me,” he warns, “because I will be here to see you die by normal means. You’ll just die. Death process will take over, and it’ll be you that will be put six foot under, by your own thoughts, minds, and attitudes, by touching the anointed.”

He acknowledges more than once that people feel hostile towards him, and says that it “comes towards me for having to be the driving force for your freedom.” He asks for more gratitude for himself, more appreciation for what he does for them, a recognition of how much he loves everyone there. “Try hard,” he pleads. “Try hard to think of some reasons to be grateful, instead of always in your states of apprehension and hostility.”

The segments following the news also include announcements of increasingly draconian surveillance of people, to make sure they continue the production of the land. Jones describes the function of the “work observers” late in the tape: “There are more observers today, and believe me, there will be names taken – plenty of them – because we have increased our observer staff by at least double… It won’t be somebody just walking that you think you know. It’ll be someone you don’t know.”

He defends his decision by holding out the carrot of a move to the USSR, where there is more room and additional benefits that Guyana cannot provide. But granting permission to allow Peoples Temple into the Soviet Union comes with a price: “let us work hard. That was one request they made, that we study their constitution well, their language and to work hard, work very hard here, extra hours, to build this project to the very, very best we can.”

He also wants people to do better on the tests – language, Soviet and Guyana history, news – and says people need to pay attention when he reads the news, because they are responsible for its content. “I would advise that you listen, because the test will be more severe this time. To shut me out will be only to hurt yourself and require five extra classes.”

The reading of the news takes up the bulk of the tape. As is the case in other tapes, Jones adds periodic editorial comments. Some obviously come from him, as when he pauses to describe the US arms shipments going to the South African regime as being financed by US tax dollars, and adds, “much to our sorrow.” At another point, he praises a US Senator for decrying the Camp David accords, and concludes, “Bravo to such courage.” At other points, however, it is hard to determine whether the use of such adjectives as “fascist,” “imperialist,” “monopoly capitalist,” and “dictatorial,” comes from him or from the news copy he’s reading from, since – as in other newscasts – he relies heavily upon Soviet and East European wire services for his information.