Transcript prepared by Fielding M. McGehee III. If you use this material, please credit The Jonestown Institute. Thank you.
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Part 1: Message to Jonestown community, mid-October 1978
Jones: —Because our rain is coming. Well, it should have been over the first of August. It’s now two and a half months, and it’s still raining. So we want— we must follow the advice and counsel that’s given.
The Venezuelan operation of that general is a perfect front. He’s a candidate for the next presidency. There’s hope that he will be defeated. If not, we have a perfect grounds then to say, we are going to the Soviet Union, and the Soviet Union has said, they’ll take us. They’ll cau— cause us no conflict with Guyana, because we— Guyana will have nothing to say about this land. We will just get out. ‘Cause we didn’t make any agreement with— with the— Venezuela, and the Soviets have promised us protection against any kind of an invasion, or an attempt on the part of reactionaries that would take over Guyana.
But it’s more serious than some people want to see. We have several enemies. And we had enemies that sent that little man who was here, the detective [Joe Mazor], and he told us all— and it’s all written up in affidavits that penalty— under penalty of perjury, what he was going to do, if he had not seen that our p— faces looked happy, and he saw no guards, and he saw no barbed wire — fortunately — he saw no television things looking at him, cameras, and he saw a determined people that looked to him like they were voluntarily, which we were, encircling our community, to be free. That caused him — this is a testimony from the mouth of the detective him— himself — that caused him to withdraw from the situation. And then later, through our contacts, we broached him to talk through someone that the— Dr. [Mark] Lane and Dr. [Don] Freed knew, he broke and talked and spilled all the beans, and there were lots. (pause) [Tim] Stoen had been stealing money, had a secret bank account in England, Stoen was also being funded by a high-level com— members of the conspiracy. So now he’s a class enemy. Stoen had been a member of the CIA for eight years, according to this man’s sworn testimony. He has been a class enemy. Not just an enemy, but a class enemy. This man once bitterly despised us for communism and socialism, and still does not accept our views politically, but nonetheless, he admires our care for one another, and he has given us services free. That shows how much belief he has in what’s happening here.
So I’m saying, please, follow the advice, to be in the pavilion under the theater, under the library, there’s no danger to you. We have means of protection. There’s no danger to you, if you will stay where you belong, and the security is to rove constantly. That is the rule of the day. Don’t stop them and engage them in social conversations long. It is absolutely ess— if you follow the rules, you can be in the library studying news, sign in at the theater pavilion, or in your homes, resting.
Moreover, anyone has any problem, feeling of suicide, please give your name in the radio room, because it’s a grave and dangerous thing that you’re doing to yourself. I wish you could get out of this life, the ones that want out, but don’t want to fight the enemy. I never wanted to give the enemy, capitalism, racist pigs like Ku Klux Klan white bullying cops— I don’t want to give them the satisfaction of killing myself. But if you don’t have those checks, put your name in and we can help you, by some mood elevation, medication that will help the situation. Write it down, write your name down, your feelings about it, and why you are feeling this way. I want the problem— you will not be brought on the floor. We are trying to stop good socialists from laying down their lives and having to go back 500 generations. It’s expensive to us. I would think there’d be enough motivation, as I said, but I will not mention your name, if you need some kind of attention, because of feeling of committing suicide. We will not mention your name whatsoever, to no one, so put it in the suggestion box, and the suggestion box must be opened by me, or if you wish to get there more rapidly, give it to the radio, sealed in an envelope, for me. Seal in an envelope, for me. Or someway, stapled, so that it goes directly to me. You could just say, “for my eyes only,” and no one else will pay any attention. We get letters like that every day. Suggestions or feelings that they want to send, just to Father, Dad, your best friend, the office, every day, we get those notes and have for many months, so if you put “for your eyes only,” no one will think anything about it. And they will certainly oblige that. I’ve never seen anyone try to break into any notes or mail that has come to me. So all right. Now I’ll let (unintelligible word) further.
But don’t forget that when you do (sighs) try to commit suicide, and you put harm to your body, you use the energy of Jim Jones that could be used against the common enemy, or to protect the little girl that would’ve been now dead, Teri [Smart], because of this septicemia, bacterial disease in her lungs. She had fainted three times and went into total coma, and the doctors said it would have been a short time before she had died. (unintelligible word) the lad that had the serious uh, infection, kidney infection, another involvement, and we didn’t have any place, he was too close to disaster, we had no plane available, and they was healed within— both of them, within five minutes time. But if people drain me down by letting their personal problems preoccupy them, remember what I said: the next person I revive from suicide, I will see that it is not going to be meditation spent on you. If you haven’t taken advantage of my offer now, so I can help you, (tape edit) if you’re in that de— state of depression, I can’t help you.
If you feel like running away or you feel like committing suicide, just imagine how many— how Timothy O. Stoen, who had Chris Lewis murdered, (unintelligible word) would feel, how much he’d laugh. Imagine all those white devils, like Deanna Mertle [aka Jeannie Mills], and her who— her husband [Elmer Mertle, aka Al Mills], and all that evil, like Liz Forman, that element that never would do a thing for the cause and stole from the cause, Grace [Stoen], who on one occasion alone, according to the Breidenbachs, $5000. That’s terrible. Would you want to give them the satisfaction that you’d taken your own life? Let them smear in the pe— press that you hated socialism, that you didn’t believe in equality and justice? Would you want that written? That’s the way they’d write your epitaph. Not that you were a hero, but that you did not like brotherhood socialism, and you preferred capitalism, which has turned into outright fascism, it’s turned into outright fascism, already, in the USA.
Get politicized more, and remember, my heart was broken when I was a child, when the panties of my only girlfriend, best girlfriend, were dropped on my desk, only because I wouldn’t screw her. Then my best boyfriend, who wanted me to screw him, my buddy, and I wouldn’t do it, he does it and drops her panties on my desk, and I’d helped him with tests and everything. So no matter how many people, and there’ve been thousands that have sought after me because of being a leader, wanting me for sex or whatever, but one thing that I learned from that experience, that people only use you, until they become communist. And I’m glad for that experience. Now I’m glad for that painful reje— rejection. When I went out and cried for hours and hours over the pain that that girl, Marilyn Kircher, brought upon me. I cried and thought I would die of heartache. But the heartache was worthwhile. It made me trustworthy. Never again to fall for anyone, to only be in love with you as a family, and communism above all, so I think it was— Everything happens, not just happens, but everything happens just, if you’ll look at it. Take every knock and make it a boost onward, in communism and socio-centric behavior on your part, away from ego-centrism. If you’re socio-centric, put your ego down here, you’re not going to ta— care what anyone says to you, what happens to you, what you go through, you’re going to be interested only in the cause of one day fighting the vicious enemy.
If we were to go to the Soviet Union, that would be very possible. We could volunteer for Africa, he assured us of that. You could do a lot of things that some of you want. Some of you want to go to the university, some of you want to s— fight the class enemy. Well, you’d be able to fight the class enemy there. We would also be allowed the privilege of the vain chance, just the bare bare risk that there was a chance to go back and help build socialism in America, and— the nuclear war, the Soviet Union was able to get such a bomb that would stop US’s ability or such a defense system that would stop US bombs before they ever got anywhere to any part of the world— We uh, will be given the opportunity, he assured me, of going back and helping the revolution.
So you have everything before you. Protection here, in a warm beautiful climate, and remember the importance of living in the highest conduct, and building this to the best degree, because the delegation is coming, and there’s a possibility— a strong possibility, even though it’s late, the offer wasn’t taken up earlier, unfortunately, we didn’t know about it, and there— the only chance that we won’t have the alternative this year — we’ll have it next year — the only reason we won’t have it, is because it’s been allocated to some other people. If— if we did not get it, it’d only be allo— it’d be because they thought nobody here was going to take it, because there was some vague mention of it, we didn’t understand it through our office in headquarters, and they didn’t get it clear, and they may have allocated it to some other nation. But it looks very good, but the delegation coming is absolutely sure. So let’s be certain to study our language and our current events with the highest reason, that we can defeat the class enemy, that we can stand up as one for black liberation, for social justice, for economic equality. Don’t be so silly as to lay your life down, to give the fascists a laugh, and the newspapers a headline. That is silly, and it is a waste of your whole potential, because what— think what you could do, if you would not internalize that violence by self-destruction, and think towards the enemy. Don’t forget that Stoen’s still walking around, but ask for Chris Lewis. He deserved a chance to live. He was kind to older people. He helped us many times with many important endeavors to help other people, even though he didn’t listen to me and stay here like I wanted him to stay here and be safe. Surely, surely, you’re consumed enough with the passion to see that Stoen and Mertles and Liz Forman, who demanded that man be put out of the way before they would cooperate with the authorities of this conspiracy, surely— and you’d say, what do you mean? You know in fact? Yes, that’s another thing that we’ve had told to us by the conspirators that stepped forward. So we want you to realize, you’re fighting a real enemy, and be careful about following the rules, and keep yourself alive to— to register, when the time comes, a lethal blow on the enemy called capitalism and fascism. Thank you, and much love.
Part 2: Message made the next day
Jones: —would’ve thought that after I explained suicide last night, and the necessity for guilt, that there would be those who would consider it today. I would’ve thought people would’ve listened to the reasoning from my heart, that I know people live on. But we had one young lady, and she tried to do something, and she will have to of course get more help than ordinarily, because we can’t— and this medication, as I said, you take the medication, it requires you to be just a little (Pause) more tranquil and uh, you can’t work around dangerous machinery, so I hope we don’t have a whole community that would not take on guilt and assume guilt, like I have, for others even, but one did not get the message last night, and thought they would uh, show that. So we will have to of course keep that person under surveillance until we see the medication is having some effect on you. We are very sorry that we cannot (pause) relate— I cannot relate to how personal romance could be taken as a issue to hurt little babies, to cause shame on a movement. I don’t know. This— this situation baffles me, that you are s— there are— there is capabilities of being self-centered, that person can try this sort of thing, when I appeal so strongly to you last night, the young lady, not to feel bad about all of it, it must be that you are manipulating something you want to do. Well, when you can prove yourself responsible, then we will let you have whoever you want, no matter whether we feel that the person may be good for you or bad for you, we will not interfere with your sick love affairs, but if a person volunteers to me now, (Pause) rather than tells me they— of the— after the fact, that they’ve tried to do something, we can give you assistance that will enable you to work about, but you will be, for a while, sleepy and drowsy, and you will not be able to be around anything that— any heavy machinery or any place that required safety precautions. But I would think, that someplace in our minds, we could grow up. Write to me, even if you feel you need it, or if you don’t need it, but you feel that way. If you feel suicidal, I may be able to lift certain burdens, take off certain tensions, to assist you, but we’re in a revolution, the only American group.
Marcus Garvey died on a lonely island, trying to see this day, a group of people leaving America and shaking the dust of capitalism off their feet. This has been the dream of black people from W.E.B. duBois, no one followed him, W.E.B. duoy— duBois, great communist, great communist he was, who really knew colonialism and gave many of [Vladimir] Lenin— principle— Lenin his inspiration, this great black scholar, for many of Lenin’s works were based on the previous work of W.E.B. duBois. But W.E.B. duBois could get only his wife to leave America with him, because people were so sick and so attached to the venomous octopus of America, who reaches out its tentacles and kills of— innocent, so that you can eat popcorn and soda pop, and go to a bebop dance or disco.
I don’t know how anybody could lust after that place. I certainly don’t. I would think you would think about the number of people— If you don’t give a damn about Chris Lewis that was shot down, think about the Wilming— Wilmington 10, that they won’t even give a trial to, when all witnesses say they’re innocent, and they’re still being held in jail for upwards of 400 years, when all the witnesses couldn’t live with their conscience, and have stepped forward on the news media and said they are not guilty of burning down that empty garage. If you don’t relate to that, I don’t know what else to ha— do but to try to help you through our doctor, we’ll help you through our counseling, if you feel it. You say, I won’t do it, but feel it, I’d like to know that too, because nothing will be done. Because we know that that is. We get tired and weary of the pain that people are causing in life, but we are one of the few, the very few communities, the very few communities in the world, outside of the Soviet Union, that can do something about it, that can help those that are struggling still to be free, like Ethiopia, Namimbia, we have— and uh, Zimbabwe— we have the opportunity to go to the greatest place on earth, and get training, and would equip us well and ably to defeat the common foe.
Remember to have your homes early in the morning presentable, and everything around here presentable, because [a] helicopter may bring in the cultural people, cultural center people, and the government official early in the day. That was their original plan, if something didn’t come up. So, please, take this to heart. If you have depressions, write about them. We’ll gladly counsel about them. We understand depressions. If you have suicide feelings, [but] say I won’t do it, we understand that, and we will talk about it. If you feel a compulsion to commit suicide, and write it before you’ve done anything, and won’t do it, give us an opportunity to help you with a tranquilizer, we will do that. But it— even as much as it costs financially. But there’s no cost like the cost of laying your life down over some self- (Pause) you know, self-concern. Motivation. Don’t you have any desire to defeat fascism? Don’t you have any feeling that your body is worth some leverage against one oppressor? Each of you here have more skill and training, more knowledge of Marxist-Leninism? You could defeat a common enemy. Though I carry a temperature every day, I live with that passion. Though I have anxieties and pains, after bringing two back from the jaws of death last night— three, naming the young man with the gasoline [Ricky Johnson]— my God. I have no desire to lay my body down and let it rot, when I could carry it someplace and make an impact on— against the fascist in USA, if nothing else.
And that’s our whole motivation, the motivation of the Soviet Union. Youth can be trained to be doctors that want to be, youth can be trained to be fighters that want to. Seniors can be protected, and our children can feel peace. And here, we ought to be grateful— we have the greatest peace we’ve ever known. More protection, because GDF [Guyana Defense Force] did beef up their border forces. And as I said, all you have to do is stay on the path and don’t go out in the bush, into the jungle where tigers and li— and snakes are galore. Of course, we’ve never been bitten by anything here, so let us be extremely mindful of this. Extremely mindful of what I’m saying. Don’t give the capitalists a laugh, the fascist pigs that would have headlines over you laying down your life. Don’t give them that kind of laugh. They’ll make you look like nothing but a weak person, and they’ll say you didn’t like socialism. You didn’t like black people. You didn’t like living in an inter-racial community. Don’t give fascists that kind of joy. I wouldn’t do it, no matter how depressed I get, and I don’t take medication to keep from being depressed. And I’m depressed, because of the way some people here use me, badly, abuse me, and drive me, when I’m not even physically well, but I will live on for a long time, because I care to protect all of you, some who won’t even try to protect yourself, or look after your own interest. Please take this to heart. The suggestion box is available to you, and privacy.
But as I said, I (stumbles over words) will have to deal a little differently with the young woman that, after I appealed most lovingly to you, that uh, you could at the proper time have what you want, uh, and then you’d go ahead and try to do something, or you couldn’t get it done, I’ll have to see that you get more medical help than the ordinary— uh, I ju— I don’t understand this at all. I can’t relate to it at all. Anyone who succeeds — and she didn’t succeed either — if you were even to succeed, to go back 500 generations, I just can’t dig you people, that all you see, the miracles of a girl coming out of a coma, the little boy that was dying, and the young man with gasoline that should’ve burned his esophagus and his stomach up, that should not be able to urinate, he urinated or uh, some hours later thereafter, ordinarily, when I went in to see him late— late in the morning, today, late last night, he urinated while I was there and hadn’t urinated since he had had the (Pause) awful stuff in his body, so I’m telling you, I don’t dig you people, I would certainly know that this universe is— weird as it is, two out of three going to bed hungry, (Pause) it’s certainly going to be weird enough to make you live on, because people want to be at rest and not live on so badly, so that’s why I’m sure, the religionists are right, not the way they think it, but uh, we do survive the grave.
And then your principles— if I didn’t know I wasn’t going to live on, I would not give the enemy satisfaction, I can’t understand this at all. I would stay alive, to be one body, one American. They can use you on Radio Moscow, they can ro— use you from our own radio broadcast here, protesting capitalism. And we do it every day. We talk to every people that come in here about socialism and the racism in America, every visitor we tell them the story, it’s a chance to challenge, to produce a model, until the door is open for us there. And they want us to keep this door looking the best, working it hard, and I would think that that would be enough motivation. And please talk to your neighbor. Couples, talk to each other on this subject, until you understand. You are betraying Chris Lewis, who died for us, he had the guts to go to Grace Stoen’s house to tell her off, he had the guts to go to the Mertles when they were white-mailing us for thirty-five million dolla— thirty-five thousand dollars. He had the guts to go at several of those people and tell ‘em, don’t try to hurt Peoples Temple any more, Jim Jones and— and then they murdered him, for pro— trying to protect you. They murdered him, just like I said they would. (Pause) Please, if you can’t relate to that, rela— relate to the Wilmington 10 or Patrice Lumumba or Steve Biko, ah, on we go, on we go, Victor Jara, how many— how many do I have to name, how many sad stories of black people— Paul Robeson, didn’t have a home, homeless all of his life, forced out of his home, and then when he had to come back and see America for a few months, to settle affairs for his sister, it was too much on the old man, he’d gotten to be 70 years of age, and it caused his mind to snap. This is horror. This is horror of horrors, that we would let down people like that. I can’t imagine it. You’re not thinking, you’re not caring, you’re feeling too sorry for yourself. Why don’t you stop for a moment, and think about the little baby that’s laying someplace tonight, screaming, two out of three in the world, screaming for hunger, screaming to have something put in its mouth. If we help the Soviets, if we help socialism, we can change all of that. Soviets on the brink on special counter-defense weapons system to defeat capitalism. They will defeat it as sure as I’m talking to you, and stop that day, when little babies, with their skin dried up around their bones, will be crying for hunger, and the mother has nothing to give them, not even water. This is a terrible thing, that you can be so self-centered. We must not allow ourselves to be. Thank you, and I love you very, very much.
Part 3:
Jones: (agitated) (unintelligible phrase leading in) —work rules. I’m going to call the police and GDF. That’s why I didn’t call (unintelligible word). I knew this morning he was gone. I’m just going to call the police, the Guyana Defense Force, we’re not going to fool with this, because Commander [Clarence] Price is a very good friend. (Pause) Very good friend of ours. He— He’ll do anything we ask him. By God, he’s the head of the army, navy, and the marines. So we— ah, we’re not going to put up with this shit anymore, and you can just take that in your little pipe and smoke it. ‘Cause we’ve had enough of it. First thing you do when you run away, we call the GDF and then they— they’ll throw you in the goddam police— And their jails are not as nice as ours. (Pause) They got jails where they really mean business. They mean people to be socialist, or they get a cat-o’nine-tails. (Pause) All right, folks, you can get back to work. What’s your business is your business, and go back to your work, don’t— just move production. (Pause) (Tape edit?)
Everything go back to usual, all the work, be careful with the heavy duty equipment, because that revolution, it’s the full moon. (Pause) All right. It’s a full moon, so be cautious on the full-moon cycle. (Pause) (Tape edit)
(Deliberate tone) —want to make this clearly understood to any and all members of this community, that want to run away. The moment we find that someone has run away, from now on, we’re going to call the Guyana Defense Force, comman— commander— comman— commandier Price is our close friend. He’s dined several times in our headquarters. So we’re not going to put up with this bullcrap. If you want to run away, you’ll have to deal with them. And I mean, they do deal with folks in their jails. They don’t play around. The first thing they do, for nearly all lawbreakers here, is to use a cat-o’nine-tails, to give you thirty or forty lashes, to teach you something. So they don’t mind if we want to box you around. We try to reason with you folks, and you don’t take to that. We have no violence here. We’re not even allowed to spank a child. But you’ve taken advantage of this. But what the GDF does— Guyana Defense Force does, is their business. And what the police do uh, is also their business. So we’re just going to turn the matter over to the police and the Guyana Defense Force, Commandier Price, General Price, com— he’s a co— com— brigadier general Price, Brigadier General Price is his title, he’s a very good friend, all we will do is lift up this radio, because if you want to go outside and get bitten by snakes, or be down in the ISU, where somebody else is sick right now with something, we don’t know what the hell’s the matter with them— because there’s no diseases in this community, no bugs in this community that’ll give you anything. We’ve never been bitten by a snake, mira— miraculous. There’s not a community in California or anyplace in the United States where there’re snakes with mu— many times more snakes than we have, that can make that record, that they’ve never been bitten by a snake. We can.
We’ve seen miracles last night. We saw such a miracle, or miracles (Pause) as Mary Griffith. She was dying in rigors, and her tongue had gone back in her throat, and she was in the last quivering motions of death, she was saved, last night, miraculously. And then before that, miraculously, Terry Carter went into a— not Terry Carter, scratch that, Terry (Pause) Smart went into a coma with a septicemia. Septicemia of the blood. Impossible to cure. Until I came up to her ear, and spoke the word, and now she’s doing normally. And I don’t know how many miracles. The miracle of this young man that drank the gasoline, three cup[s], but one uh, teaspoon should be enough for you. One teaspoon would’ve killed you, just a breath of it. If you breathe gasoline long enough, you will die. You don’t appreciate the miracles, the— some of you, you don’t appreciate the care and the love. And I’ve missed something else. James Baisy, who was dying with something rare, who we couldn’t be with, kidney infection, we couldn’t have gotten him out at that hour of night. When I walked back, immediately his temperature, all the medical staff, when I touched him, walked by, his— his— uh, his temperature dropped down, now he’s normally well today.
(Exctedly) Now mark my words, we’re tired of uh, 30 people being taken off production, because of this. We haven’t had that much, and we’re— the rest of us— anybody else that runs, it’s, uh— you’re in the hands of the Guyana Defense Force, and you’re in the hands of the police, and we’re going to blight you and the parents who have backed us up in this or the guardians, and it’s going to be too much trouble for you, because you don’t know what the hell you’ve got until you get caught by somebody who doesn’t believe in fooling around. They believe in people being disciplined, and they— when they take over in their jails, they believe in teaching you a lesson. So that’s what’s going to happen. We’re tired of this loss of production. Thank you, and I love you very much.
Part 4:
Jones: Attention, attention, attention. Anyone coming near, wherever my abode is, don’t get in front of my door or pull on my handle or my window. Don’t touch my window or my door. You might find yourself in a lot of trouble that’s meant only for mercenaries or somebody else that wants to come and start some shit with me or the children that I keep down there. You understand what I’m saying? (Pause) Be sure you come, announce yourself, because you get on that porch, and don’t announce yourself, trou-ble, trou-ble. Thank you.
Part 5:
Male: Attention, attention. Just like to talk about the miracles that Dad has done in the last couple of days. We knew about the Baisy child that was going in convulsions, and he just walked over, and talked to him, and told him that everything would be all right. We know about Teri, when she had passed out, and her electrolytes were all unbalanced, and Dad walked away when the medical staff couldn’t do anything, and he walked away, walked down to her, and he looked at her, and on his way down, he said it to himself that he couldn’t let this be, and he helped her, just by his word and his presence there. And the Griffith child that had gone into convulsions last night, and— and he did the same thing, he helped her out also. (Pause) Also, when we were out at sea, going to Georgetown — this was about a week ago — the rudder broke off, we were drifting out there, but all of a sudden, the ocean was calm, (Pause) but there was no— no tossing, the weather was nice. We hooked up a radio that hadn’t worked before, we tried it, and it worked. When we made our communications and we were safe on dry land, we tried to radio again, and it didn’t work. I said all this to point out that things just don’t happen, they happen just. And we really have to remember who and what Dad stands for. And also, we would like to point out the two seniors that Dad prophesied about. And before I talked about the two seniors, I’d like to point about Teri Smart that had septicemia. Mary Black, who is a lab technician, who’s uh, seen a lot of cases, was so astounded, that she had to go around and look at Teri’s face, because you don’t come out of a situation that Dad brought Teri out of. And she was definitely in the jaws of death, and Dad smashed her out. And this— She was in a coma, unconscious, the medical staff, as I pointed out before, they couldn’t revive her, they couldn’t do anything for her. She didn’t respond to any of the uh, treatment that the medical staff was trying to give to her, they scratched her, they put light in her eyes, she rubbed her eyelids— or her eyeballs with cotton, they pricked her with pins, and no response. Only till Dad walked in the room and put his hand on her, and started to talk to her, did she respond. (Pause)
Jones: But there are dangers. Marianita Langston just fell head first out of a loft. (Pause) (unintelligible question) Attention, attention, attention. You’ll have to watch your footing, you’ll have to watch getting in and out of lofts. No children are to be in lofts. The lofts that are like Marinetta— Marianita’s, when they (unintelligible word: “tilt”? “tote”?) to one end, they should go straight up to the middle, so no one can fall head first through them. Marianita Langston fell head first. If I hadn’t had a feeling of revelation about it, as I was going on, that she’d be okay, I suppose it’d been my undoing. Fortunately, no harm came. Fortunately. But I’m warning you, that a child that had a coma for several days, as you know, went into coma for several days, and we had one that went in for hours, that’s been healed, like Julius Evans, the Evans child, so we’ve got to be extremely careful. Everything uh, the equipment, industrial and so forth. Also, it’s a full moon, and the sixteenth [of October]. Most people— We’re 98% water, so we rise like the tide. Most people it affects positively. And some it affects negatively. So we have to be more aware for dangers to our life, or crippling disorders or diseases, around the sixteenth and the full moon. Please remember that fact, and regard it for your own safety. (Long pause)
Part 6:
Jones: Attention, attention, attention. I demand— it’s going to be a matter of observation by the people, the observers, and even the citizens of Jonestown, if people do not smile and give encouragement to people as they pass, by friendly greeting and a pat on the shoulder occasionally, or warmth. We need to quit (unintelligible word: “correcting”?) and share love with all people. I demand it now, you’ll hear it next from the floor, if some of you don’t change your patterns in this way. All of us who— owe at least friendliness to each other.
There’s a great miracle just wrought today. Two of them. Carriet— Marianita Langston, the last of which fell from the attic, head first. She should not be alive. She should be a vegetable. She should’ve broken her neck. No way can you come out of that. People are not appreciative enough. They have so many things going for them. But whether you appreciate it or not, I want to see you speaking, and there’s a group that not— who are not speaking or not showing a friendly smile, you’ll be [could be, “you’ve been”] given a warning. And you know two warnings mean public services. So please, all of us start showing some kindness and love. To our children — I’ve said this before — uh, give them that kind of love, hug them every now and then, and show warmth as you pass them. It’ll help them like flowers grow. Even plants respond to love.
Secondly, I would like to remind the women that go into different ports of duty, such as Georgetown or upriver. Karen have had several come on to her, and Karen’s a good-looking woman, a good-looking woman indeed. Karen Layton. But she knew their games, and all the other women have told her the same thing: she said— If you’re looking at somebody that (unintelligible word) in the States, I can’t do it. And then the men right there on the spot would say, you have a friend that could. You have a girlfriend that might help me. So that’s what they’re interested in you. And you’re going to have— that’s why you— they’re very interested in you, you’re going to have the good sense and judgment to understand that, and not be an ass, and think that they’re interested in you because of your beauty or they want to give you money. It’s all a bunch of bullshit. They want to mar— marry you, which will give them an opportunity to become a U.S. citizen. That’s the only reason any Guyanese would have interest in you, because we’ve had too many reports— too many reports. Evelyn [most likely Evelyn Marie Eichler], Karen, all the— particularly uh, the workers in Georgetown, not one hasn’t told me something about this kind of experience. So I want to you to take that in mind— keep it in mind, that no matter how beautiful you think you are, that’s all the Guyanese males out there want from you, because socialism hasn’t got down to the grassroots yet. The leaders in government are strongly socialist, many of them very, very committed, but socialism has not got down to the people yet. They think America is a— the Mecca, America’s the greatest hope of the world, they don’t know about its racism, they refuse to face it, even some of them are guilty of reverse racism. One person rather high in the— in the party, for instance, said to our people just uh, yesterday, “You know, American blacks are lazy. Blacks here are lazy.” Said, well, aren’t you black? Yes, but I’m mixed with white. So this idiocy goes on, until they become socialist. This reverend did have theoretical socialism, but she still wasn’t a practical socialist. And it’s very damned important that you don’t get carried away by your good looks, because some of the best looking women here have been approached, offered everything if they weren’t— (unintelligible) to give them this and that, and when they said, frankly, no, like Karen and Evelyn and several others, a sister, all kinds of reports I’ve had, they immediately say, Oh well. Or get— they get mad, like Evelyn did, with the uh, businessman, or they will say they get mad at her, or they’ll say very boldly, like they were (unintelligible word), do you have a friend that can help me? They’re very non-specific. Socialism— they love themselves very much. Socialism has not gotten down to the people yet. So remember that fact. Thank you very much, and much love.
Part 7:
Jones: Attention, attention, attention, attention. Those who are interested— and the community seems to be at large in going to the Soviet Union— but never call it Russia— the Soviet Union— and never speak of the Warsaw Pact, call it the Warsaw Treaty, that’s the alliance of all of the great socialist nations with the Soviet Union. Don’t worry about language. We will be a community intact. So some of you who feel that you can never learn the language of the Soviet Union, don’t be fearful, because we would be allowed to speak English, they said. It wasn’t a big issue if some didn’t ever learn it perfectly. But we want to try. We want to try. Students, another matter. We won’t have difficulty, because every student now in the Soviet Union speaks English as their second language. It’s just a matter of course. They teach English even to the little children in the nursery schools. They’re very advanced in that regard. To those of who that have fears that, the Soviet Union, you won’t have more freedom— you won’t have as much freedom, you’ll have indeed a great deal more, (unintelligible phrase) not like it, you could go back and live in fascist USA. Wo— They wouldn’t object. They’ll let you do that, if you choose. But I wanted to stress some of those things that might be of some concern. (Pause)
Also, there may be even some scholarships by the first of the next year offered to us, because the Guyanese did not take Soviet scholarships, and the— and some who ought to (unintelligible word), ambassador told us, they’ll now be offering them to us. They may be admitted next year, so if you have university ambitions, you have more opportunities for university, (unintelligible word) hope for three months, at least to get ah— scrutinized, it— It’s not a matter of overnight, and to those that want to stay in the project, if you’re having difficulty, you can write that up, or if you can maintain both, because we’re not going to leave on an unfriendly basis. We’re going to be producing as we ever did. We— They in the producing, right up, that was most important, the ambassador said. To leave in a friendly tune and a friendly tone. And so, it’s very conceivable, if someone is reluctant to go, they could have this place as their home forever, if that’s the way they felt about it. Didn’t want to go with the office. I would think that would be foolhardy, if you wanted to leave the office at anytime, when you think about the number of accidents that happen to any community, and we’re thinking of (unintelligible phrase) fall on her head today, Morton child had a heavy fall, Muhan, Muhan— (tape edit?) (unintelligible word). You had uh, someone take gasoline, and you’re supposed to die even when the fumes even come to your nose. We had another, that was uh, struck with a terrible kidney attack and uh, another with reaction to a bee, and another who had a uh, septicemic rare bacterial disease that’d been forming in her blood for years. Teri Smart and Lucille (unintelligible name), one right after another, and uh, wrought by uh, one young man in the S.C. unit who had not been able to urinate for 25 hours, and he urinated. Uh, the— uh, that’s your privilege there, if you don’t want to be around, when somebody has that kind of power or principle. At that point, as I said, you are uh, free. You can stay here. When we get there, all we have to do, we want to be sure that no one messes up. If we get there, or what this (unintelligible word) the U.S. Consulate and ask to go back. We’ll have that arrangement, if it has to go back. There’s no problem about that. If you really want to live in Babylon, and face a nuclear hell, a concentration camps, and in nuclear hell, there will be no shelters like there are in the USSR, great cities underground, that’ll be your privilege and your prerogative. But it looks very, very positive, and we will let you know the moment on the (stumbles over words)— the musicians or the basketball team, they prove to be (unintelligible sentence). Uh, there would be no question about it now, but uh, Guyana’s quota which they didn’t take, may have already been (unintelligible word) people for this year, but there’ll certainly be no doubt about it, no question that you’ll be having quotas in scholarships and quotas in uh, chi— uh, cultural exchange, quotas for entertainment, and then as I said, this one author alone, sixty thousand US dollars at minimum. A minimum, sixty thousand US dollars would go to other (unintelligible word) and the best of care while you were there for two or three weeks. Just wanted to pass that on for something to think about, and for people to really understand the beautiful teacher you have, as young people and as seniors, because it’s the greatest medical centers in the world, the best of medical care, and we’ve been promised— (voice fades)
Part 8:
Jones: Attention, attention, attention. Some people feel insecure because of my health, and your— that affects your ideas about my future and your future. I want to tell you, those that worry the most about my health, I will long outlive you. I— As you see me running around this place, it’s quite obvious that I have gone through the valley of the shadow, and returned. And I’ve been through the valley of the shadow of death so many times in nearly a half century, that you wouldn’t even dream. Naturally, when I heal people, I get arthritis that goes ne— into my hands and my joints, that’s a part of it. And it’ll pass away. My hands may appear slow, and then it’ll pass away. You have nothing to worry about, about my health, not one single thing (pause) because I did not bring you to this point to leave you without a future and without someone who loves you and will plan and care for you. Thank you and much love.
Part 9:
Jones: —just as strongly, the forced expulsion in Moscow yesterday of an Austrian radio and television conni— correspondent. The Austrian foreign ministry today informed the Soviet Embassy in Vienna that the action constitutes a violation of the Helsinki agreement, in their mind, and could damage friendly relations. The reporter was forced to leave Moscow yesterday, after Soviet officials cancelled his visa, because he was working with the CIA. The Soviet Union were much more generous than many of us would have been, when they allowed Austria, once— they conquered, uh— the Nazis that controlled Austria, and Austria’s always been very Germanic in its tendencies, was very pro-Hitler, Austria had uh, been conquered by the Soviets. I mean, the Nazis had been defeated in Austria, and they allowed it to become independent, thus showing a great deal of uh, tolerance on the part of the Soviet Union to avoid nuclear war, ‘cause it was just about to that point. Now Austria is moving more and more to the right, as if— West Germany is also, there’re Hitlerite movements, worshipping Adolf Hitler as much as they did back in the 30’s, in spite of the millions that he killed in gas chambers. People of color, minorities, socialist and communist, and Semites. It’s a terrible, terrible thing that people learn so little from history.
A heavy fog over the Irish Sea (moved microphone) is hampering efforts to clean up a 16-kilometer — that’s equal to over nine miles — of oil slick, threatening the English coast, the Welsh coast. Tons of oil began spilling into the sea late last night after a Greek tanker ran aground on rock.
Today, we shall discuss the ruling class, kicking Nixon around again. Richard M. Nixon has started to crawl back into the news again, and none too soon. A number of liberal-minded souls have professed to sentiments of moral outrage that the ex-president should emerge from his self-imposed isolation after resigning the presidency in disgrace in the summer of 1974. They are furious that David Frost should have paid Richard, the jackal-hearted, one million dollars and provide him major access to the nation’s heart and minds in a series of highly-publicized interviews. A covey of booksellers and other righteous guardians of the public morality think it’s a dis— disgrace, it’s a disgrace that the unindicted co-id— co-conspirator of Watergate should be permitted to have his memoirs published and sold at the price of nineteen dollars and 95 cents for each book in the otherwise moral business climate of the USA. The last grouping promoted a campaign from the dubious slogan, “Don’t Buy Books From Crooks,” and more self-defeating, ‘cause the proposition cannot be imagined. For this campaign to succeed, the country’s multi-billion dollar publishing industry would have to give up the ghost on the spot, ‘cause all of the books that American public are really allowed to read, that are promoted by the media, are books written by crooks. Falling hard on the heels of his excursion into the uncertain region of the Book of the Month Club, Nixon began making carefully-selected public appearances, going to church, attending local political gatherings, low-key testimonial dinners, the theater and the like. Guardedly sympathetic articles about the musings of the hermit of San Clement— San Clemente, California, Mr. Nixon, have begun to appear in newspapers and journals, not otherwise known for their circumspection. During the summer, the former chief executive ventured further from home, into the friendly hills of traditionally-Republican eastern Kentucky. There he was lustily cheered by thousands of corps of die-hard loyalist[s] of the kind who have gone to their graves protesting that commies heaped on the head of Jack the Ripper.
Taking heart from this outburst of provincial approbation, Nixon went on to dare the perils of New York City, where particularly, he was greeted with comparable enthusiasm. There were some that gawked in the streets at Manhattan, and booed in a college auditorium. No matter. Having long ago written off New York as an min— me— melange of ungrateful un-American activities — un-American minorities, rather — and a hotbed of subversion, the once-mighty Milhaus Nixon was not at all dismayed by his reception in the Big Apple. In fact, he probably relished it. For one thing, it confirmed— it confirmed indeed his most deeply-held prejudices. Beyond that, the ex-president, who almost became a dictator, purpose was clearly not to show that he was popular in New York, he was always had— he always had a stubborn streak of realism, but rather to demonstrate that he could enter into the lion’s den and still retire unharmed.
It is to be sure tempting to join in the swelling chorus of denunciation that has greeted Nixon rallies in the— sallies into the public limelight. It’s one thing, however, to register disapproval of the man, and all that he has stood for, but it’s quite another if such a campaign might discourage the ex-president to the point where he would once again retreat into undeserved obscurity. That would truly be a pity. We wou— We should want old Nixon to kick around again, not only out of any sense of pecu— and with picayune— or with his personal character, but as a useful means for focusing public attention again and again on the political character of the bourgeoisie state in its last stages, before it become du jure fascism. It is now a de facto fascism. In fact that is, it is fascist, though the armies are not on the streets, the system is a de facto fascist state. First of all, the suggestion that Nixon isn’t fit to be seen in public, or even to hold illusions about the possibility of once again holding political office, makes the rest of our public officials look a lot better than any of them deserve. We should be arguing that Mr. Nixon has just as much right to hold public office as the rest of monopoly capitalism’s unindicted co-conspirators, all of which are crooks in Congress. Over half of them holding gold, that’s been taken from the blood of South Africans, Union of South Africa, they hold gold stocks, but blacks are cruelly tortured to death, working for just a minimal of sixteen— twenty-one cents an hour, in the Union of South Africa, to get that gold that half the Congress owns stock in.
Is there a crime after all he has committed which has not been committed by almost every one of his predecessors in the White House, and by any member of the state political apparatus who has managed to survive the political war? As one of our large conservative thinkers, Victor Lasky, has pointed out, it didn’t begin with Richard Nixon. At most the one-time chief executive was guilty of ineptitude. It’s hardly a hanging offense, but that more— would that more of our officials were equally clumsy. Nor should we discourage people from reading the Nixon memoirs, although it would undoubtedly be wiser and more economical to salvage it— them from the remainder bins in due course than to part with the $20 still being asked. But the wit and wisdom of Richard Nixon are worth keeping alive, and even publicizing. Most of it is self-serving— self-serving blather, of course, and it comes in that unique Tricky Dick style of unctuous prose, in which Nixon has always been devoted under the illusion that— co— that it comes off as a frank and sincere— that it comes off as frank and sincere, when the real impression it gives is that he is selling snake oil, and that at the inflated price.
The ex-president’s view of Watergate is a most fascinating section of these memoirs. For one thing, he makes it perfectly clear that he was definitely not the sixth man in the Watergate break-in. He takes great plain— great pains to tell us that he was in Florida at the time, down to the detail that his first report on the incident came from a news item in the Miami Herald. And as to the charge that somewhere along the line, he pulled a smoking gun on [White House counsel] John Dean is a fit of picu— picuny— Well, more to the point is what he did do. What, with three Cubans and Howard Hunt under arrest, Nixon was certainly pleased to hear [White House counsel] Charles Colson’s explanation of the break-in a few days after the event. According to Colson, says Nixon, it was all a Cuban émigré plot, because of the right-wing Cubans were afraid that if [Democratic Party presidential nominee] George McGovern were elected president, he would normalize relations with socialist Cuba. Colson went on to explain Nixon[‘s] claim that it was logical for Hunt to [be] involved, since one of Hunt’s in the CIA was to train Cuban exiles for the ill-fated Bay of Pigs invasion. Although, why anyone would be willing to trust their political future to Hunt after the fiasco seemingly has not occurred to anyone. Also very strange that Hunt was seen at the site of the murder, the assassination of President [John F.] Kennedy. What was Nixon’s reaction to all of this? “I told Colson we were just going to leave the Watergate matter where it was, with the Cubans.” And this from the fearless investigator of Alger Hiss.
There is much more along those lines, some of it so deliciously revealing of the chain of lies, deals, bribes, and general corruption that flourishes in the heart of fascist USA state apparatus, that one can only admire the sagacity of those who contrived Nixon’s political de— demise so as to shut the man up. It is understandable why the political establishment generally is viewing the Nixon revival with such distaste. So far as they are concerned, they let the ex-president off easy. Did they ever? But instead of expressing his appreciation for such magnanimity, and letting a conspirator to destroy a nation go free, Nixon is trying to make a nuisance of himself all over again. The power brokers know that, none of this can do themselves or the class they serve any good, so that the Trilateral Commission is doing to do all he can to try to resist him. He can only serve to remind people of all these nagging, unanswered questions they were beginning to have, and not just about the missing eighteen-and-a-half minutes of tape, although Nixon still claims to be mystified about that one as ever, though it— admitted one occasion that he had destroyed it. On a more serious level, people were beginning to suspect that the democratic face of this republic was nothing but a mask, an elaborate disguise, designed to obscure the real nature of the political power under the last stages of monopoly capitalism and the Trilateral Commission.
That after all is the essential cover-up in the whole process. Clearly monopoly capital— finance capitalism would like to keep Richard Nixon bottled up, leaving us with an image of him as a one president who did wrong, and sort of the exception who proves the rule that in general, we are governed by the wisest and fairest, or at least a reasonable facsimile thereof, and separate him from the criminality of all the other presidents, like the lies about the Bay of Pigs told by [former president Lyndon B.] Johnson. Every president has heaped us with lies. Every president of the United Stated has been a tool of the imperialist ruling class of the Trilateral Commission. Keep Nixon under wraps? Hell, no. We should be demanding that the genie be let out of the bottle, so people can really see how wicked the system of USA imperialism is.
Much love. Much work, I hope. Show to us that you can work in eight hours what you did in ten has not yet been shown, and then we’re going to be able to cut back. Let’s make our goals so we can get our people out of the state of horror that they’re in.
End of tape
Tape originally posted April 2002