Soviet Conspiracy Theory about Jonestown Massacre

"The Jonestown Carnage: A CIA Crime (1978)" published in the USSR

In 1987, The Jonestown Carnage: A CIA Crime (1978) by S.F. Alinin, B.G. Antonov and A.N. Itskov was published in the USSR, relying upon both unfounded allegations and some relatively indisputable facts. The book cites many characteristics of the Peoples Temple which may have made it unpopular with the U.S. Government. For example, citing the numerous tapes and writings of the Temple, the book notes that the Peoples Temple practiced apostolic socialism, preached atheism, and opposed what it termed to be capitalist imperialism by the US government. The book also cites the numerous meetings that representatives of the Peoples' Temple had with Soviet embassy officials to negotiate a potential exodus to the Soviet Union. The book also references the October 2, 1978 visit to Jonestown by Soviet Embassy representative Feodor Timofeyev, who praised the commune for being a socialist haven, wagging its collective finger in the face of the US government.[14]
In addition to documented events, the book also includes contentious allegations not revealed in the Jonestown tapes or other available evidence. One such item describes a statement by Timofeyev of a purported meeting on November 18, 1978, with Deborah Touchette, whom Timofeyev claimed passed him a briefcase with cash and Peoples Temple documents inside. Another report in the book concerned a call from Sharon Amos, staying at the Peoples Temple office in Georgetown with her three children on the day of the massacre, where Amos allegedly described a radio message from out of Jonestown about military helicopters and armed men approaching the compound. Amos and her three children died upon Jones' order.
Based upon these and other allegations, the author contends that the cult members were assassinated by CIA agents and mercenaries to prevent further political emigration from the USA as well as suppress opposition to the US regime.

The Jonestown Carnage: A CIA Crime (Russian) - A book (in Russian) published in Soviet Union in 1987 containing witnesses of some people at Soviet embassy in Guyana and copies of documents unknown to western world. Soviet ambassador recalls a meeting on 18 November with Deborah Touchette (she passed a briefcase with cash, tape records and documents of People's Temple to him) and a call from Sharon Adams (she told about radio message from Jonestown about military helicopters and armed people approaching Jonestown on 18 November).

http://rapidshare.com/files/85787972/CI ... f.zip.html

Ironically enough drinking the flavour aid applies to this.

I notice this volume has been taken down through lack of uploads.

i would like to make it available through a Jonestown website at http://jonestown.sdsu.edu/. I think there would be some interest generated through that. Certainly I'd like to get my hands on a copy…

Fielding

The book you are talking about can be bought on the Russian site Ozon.ru
I buy books there, they are reliable. Just go on it and paste this:

Гибель Джонстауна — преступление ЦРУ

But how are you going to read it in Russian?

Worldcat says that English-language copies are available at the Library of Congress, New York Public Library, and Harvard University.

Leaving aside the fact that its conclusion is obviously wrong, it seems the general gist of the book (from glancing at it in Russian) is:

1. The Peoples Temple was a progressive organization which enjoyed support in San Francisco;
2. The Peoples Temple was harassed by reactionaries;
3. The Peoples Temple relocated to Guyana where, as the Peoples Temple Agricultural Project (aka Jonestown), it pursued a communal lifestyle and educated its members in progressive and socialist politics.

Thus the conclusion is that the CIA put a stop to this which, again, there's no evidence for. Jones was a manipulative and abusive cult leader who, despite identifying as a communist and evidently trying to put that into practice a fair bit, could not overcome the need for self-adulation and control over others. His move from San Francisco to Guyana was due more to his abuses than his leftism, since he himself pointed out that no one in San Francisco really took much notice of his radical views.

The aforementioned fieldingmcgehee has managed to get the book scanned. Unfortunately it's missing like 20 pages, but still: http://www-rohan.sdsu.edu/nas/streaming ... arnage.pdf

As you might guess the whole conspiracy angle is suspect, but it does contain other stuff of interest (accounts of visits to Jonestown, newspaper accounts of the Temple in the US, etc.)

I've been working with fieldingmcgehee to get other old books on Jonestown online (including ones not conspiracy-minded.) One I recommend is Awake in a Nightmare which does a good job discussing the overall history of the Temple and Jonestown while also discussing the life of one of the survivors, a Black Vietnam War veteran turned drug addict whom the Temple got off of drugs: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1FxyhC ... 2G_kXzn7We

Ismail wrote:

Unfortunately it's missing like 20 pages

The link in my prior post now leads to a version of the book with all pages.

So yeah nearly nine years after heiss93 made his post, the full book is online in English.