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Peoples Temple Collection; Box 17, Virtual Item 7, Q588-Part 2 - Jonestown meeting (588-596)

 Digital Record
Identifier: ms-0183_17.07 Part 2

Dates

  • Digitized: April 13, 1978

Creator

Summary Note

This tape of a Jonestown community meeting in mid-April 1978 shows how threatened Jones – and by extension, the whole of Jonestown – was by the absence of several of Guyana's political leaders and the unwelcome arrival of relatives in Georgetown. The conversation begins as Jones laments the possible fascist takeover of Guyana during the absence of Guyana's top political leadership for two weeks, as they visit the Soviet Union. He adds that this doesn't mean that Jonestown would be immediately attacked (later, he points out that the deaths of 1000 people wouldn't go unnoticed, should the forces against them try something). Their numbers give them power and security, but they have to be alert. What they have to consider, he says, are two things: "our revolutionary significance [and] our survival, in that order." He soon adds that: "The temptation in a world without principle is for me to put it in reverse order." Full summary of the recording available at Alternative Considerations of Jonestown website, along with the tape transcript.

Rights Statement Note

The copyright interests in these materials have not been transferred to San Diego State University. Copyright resides with the creators of materials contained in the collection or their heirs. The nature of historical archival and manuscript collections is such that copyright status may be difficult or even impossible to determine.  Requests for permission to publish must be submitted to the Head of Special Collections, San Diego State University, Library and Information Access. When granted, permission is given on behalf of Special Collections as the owner of the physical item and is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder(s), which must also be obtained in order to publish. Materials from our collections are made available for use in research, teaching, and private study. The user must assume full responsibility for any use of the materials, including but not limited to, infringement of copyright and publication rights of reproduced materials.

Physical Description Note

Original audio cassette tape recording digitized and made available as .mp3 audio file. Special Collections and University Archives does not hold a physical copy of this audio cassette.

Publisher Note

Publisher: The Jonestown Institute

Repository Details

Part of the Special Collections & University Archives Repository

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