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To: The Foreign Ministry of the USSR
via: The Embassy of the USSR
Georgetown, Guyana
From: Peoples Temple Agricultural/Medical Cooperative
Re: Request for a delegation from the USSR to visit the Peoples Temple Agricultural/Medical Cooperative at Jonestown, N.W.R. [Northwest Region], Guyana
Dear Comrades:
Pursuant to our discussions concerning relocation of the Peoples Temple Agricultural/Medical Cooperative (Jonestown) in the USSR, we are requesting a delegation from the USSR come to Jonestown.
The delegation (of perhaps 3 to 5 persons) during their stay at our community, would be able to get a first-hand view of our cooperative, and ascertain just how our group would best be located in the Soviet Union. The delegation would also be able to discuss the manner and means of our proposed re-settlement at length with Cde. [Comrade] Jim Jones and our administrative staff, as well as with our residents. Although we are on a very restricted budget (we will lose some of our upcoming harvest because of the heavy rains) we will certainly help defray the costs of such delegation. Naturally there will be no cost at all while you are our guests.
Our desire to resettle in the Soviet Union remains as firm as ever, and we hope for the realization of this desire in the near future. We live a simple, communist lifestyle. We have experienced the bourgeois life and it does not appeal to us. Of course, we intend that all our funds – savings, checks and pensions etc. – be channeled into the Soviet Union. Cde Jones himself cares nothing for money. He has only one pair of slacks and one pair of shoes. On the other hand, we provide free medical care to anyone and everyone who seeks our help, on a totally equal basis. Just this week we took in several more children who were suffering from tuberculosis. These infants were almost lifeless, and are now on the road to recovery. They will be with us until they are well enough to return to their parents. We test everyone’s eyes that come to see us, and we have found several dozen who need cataract surgery. We are not capable of favoritism and to date we have turned away no one. Often, families stay for weeks at our Georgetown headquarters while receiving treatment – without charge.
If we went to the Soviet Union the burden of providing this extensive medical and dental care would be lifted. Now we are overwhelmed by the need, and it seems that although the Minister of Health, Hamilton Green, seems quite friendly and concerned, nevertheless we cannot seem to get any of the medical supplies that people send to us. For example, one man, Dr. [Walter] Thain, a somewhat conservative person who visited our cooperative and was so impressed by what he saw, and by what Cde Jones told him about socialism and the Soviet Union that he sent us some expensive medical equipment, has unsuccessfully tried to trace the shipment of those supplies for several months. The equipment never got to us. Perhaps the United States is sabotaging this and other shipments; we do not know.
We hope that you can arrange for a delegation at the earliest possible date.
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Cde Jones’ health makes such a visit all the more imperative. Cde Jones could live a few more years in the Soviet Union, and could have the peace of knowing that the movement could go on. We deeply regret havingb to take so much of your time, but the Soviet Union is our only hope. Our cooperative is a model that we know will continue to flourish in a Communist society. We thank you for your kindness and interest in People’s Temple, and send you our warmest fraternal wishes for peace and socialist progress, along with greetings from our project founder/administrator, Cde. Jim Jones.
Sincerely,
/s/ Sarah Tropp
Sarah Tropp
Administrative Staff