The Peoples Temple is grounded in the idea of Christian Socialism, focusing on the ideas of diversity and equality among all people. Their complete distrust of the government and the idea that the racist, capitalist United States would take over and control all people became the main beliefs of the group, especially Jim Jones. This distrust would eventually culminate in the move to Guyana and the final act of “revolutionary suicide”, thus escaping from the forces that wished to destroy them (Ashcraft, Peoples Temple). Jim Jones and The Peoples Temple experienced freedoms and limitations through the view of their physical bodies as disposable, their community identity as Christian Socialists and their mindset of paranoia and distrust. Committing
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Jim Jones was known as the “Spirit of Socialism” (Ashcraft, Peoples, 242) and believed in the socialist critique of wealth, media and politics. This perspective allowed the group to escape from the society they saw to be corrupt and be free from the ideas that mainstream society saw to be significant. The mainstream ideas of the time centered around major capitalism and differing class values, both of which the Peoples Temple were strongly against. This ability to forge their own beliefs and break away from the values they saw to be dangerous allowed them the freedom to practice Socialism. One major limitation of the group and their ideas occurred after their popularity rose and manifested itself in their inability to produce racial equality. Despite Jim Jones’ goal to enforce racial equality, there came a point when “almost no high-level positions were held by nonwhite, despite the fact that African Americans made up the majority of the community” (Ashcraft, Peoples, 243). This lack of racial equality majorly limited the group’s values, since they could not carry out a major tenet of their beliefs. Overall, racial equality began as a significant value of the community, but ultimately limited them as a group due to their inability to carry this
Jim Jones was known as the “Spirit of Socialism” (Ashcraft, Peoples, 242) and believed in the socialist critique of wealth, media and politics. This perspective allowed the group to escape from the society they saw to be corrupt and be free from the ideas that mainstream society saw to be significant. The mainstream ideas of the time centered around major capitalism and differing class values, both of which the Peoples Temple were strongly against. This ability to forge their own beliefs and break away from the values they saw to be dangerous allowed them the freedom to practice Socialism. One major limitation of the group and their ideas occurred after their popularity rose and manifested itself in their inability to produce racial equality. Despite Jim Jones’ goal to enforce racial equality, there came a point when “almost no high-level positions were held by nonwhite, despite the fact that African Americans made up the majority of the community” (Ashcraft, Peoples, 243). This lack of racial equality majorly limited the group’s values, since they could not carry out a major tenet of their beliefs. Overall, racial equality began as a significant value of the community, but ultimately limited them as a group due to their inability to carry this