Q738 Summary

FBI Catalogue: Jones Speaking

FBI preliminary tape identification note: One Craig 90/ “News April 9, 78”

Date cues on tape: Too few news events for complete context, but items covered consistent with tape ID note

People named:

Bible verses cited: None

Summary:

(This tape was transcribed by Isaac Zukin. The editors gratefully acknowledge his invaluable assistance.)

The bulk of this tape consists of Jim Jones reading a lengthy commentary about the Communist Party of Italy, and about political and labor relations in that country. The article allows him to follow a few of his own tangents, such as when his observation about the Italian communists supporting the local police leads him to discuss the fascistic nature of police in general and Italy in particular, which takes him to the founder of Italian fascism – Benito Mussolini – which in turns takes him to Mussolini’s invasion of Ethiopia in the 1930s, and finally, to the development of that African nation into a socialist state. Other segues lead to observations of Brazil moving out of the US orbit, of a senator’s resistance to an omnibus crime bill being considered in Washington – a subject well known to Temple followers – and the AFL-CIO’s assistance in breaking a coal miner’s strike.

There are also a few editorial asides, such as when he spontaneously describes the Italian communists’ consideration of wage concessions and reductions in pensions as “hogwash.” In general, however, there is less commentary of his own than in the tapes in which he summarizes numerous news events of the day.

The secondary theme of this tape comes in the forms of expressions of praise and gratitude to the Guyanese government and its leaders. He lauds “the good leadership of Dr. Burnham … [who] is considered one of the foremost leaders in the Third World.

“We are glad to be in Guyana and grateful to the government for permitting us to be here,” he adds a moment later, and asks the people of Jonestown “to show our gratitude to the Guyanese people for being here by extending and sharing all of our services.” That includes the medical services which Jones says the American community offers to its neighbors in Kaituma and elsewhere.

But there are limits, he suggests near the tape’s end. The entertainment which they have provided in Georgetown and elsewhere has led to many demands on their time, but “we cannot take all of these engagements, because we’ve got to step up production in order to be able to extend goods and services to free our people from the yoke of bondage that are in the United States by getting them here.”

All if this is, in the end, the most important thing. “[I]ncreasing racism and the rise of the Ku Klux Klan in every city in the United States and the increasing growth of the Nazis who call for the open genocide, extermination of black, Indian, Asian people, made it most uncomfortable for black people, Indian people like ourselves, to live in United States,” he says, then adds, “and that’s why we left to come to Guyana.”

FBI Summary:

Date of transcription: 3/21/79

In connection with the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s investigation into the assassination of U.S. Congressman LEO J. RYAN at Port Kaituma, Guyana, South America, on November 18, 1978, a tape recording was obtained. This tape recording was located in Jonestown, Guyana, South America, and was turned over to U.S. Officials in Guyana and subsequently transported to the United States.

On March 20, 1979, Special Agent (name deleted) reviewed the tape numbered 1B62 #55. This tape was found to contain the following:

Side One – unidentified male, possibly JIM JONES, reading news articles concerning Italy and commentary on those articles. The speaker makes reference to some guests that are expected in Guyana from various embassies.

Side Two is blank.

This tape was reviewed, and nothing was contained thereon which was considered to be of evidentiary nature or beneficial to the investigation of Congressman RYAN.

Differences with FBI Summary:

The summary is accurate and meets the FBI’s purposes.