Jonestown was a microcosm of Left totalitarianism: it was successful fascism in miniature. Of course Jim Jones was not as “successful” as his idol Stalin, but he rose steadily in the California power structure building upon the rhetoric of the Left and supported by leading figures of the Left.
Jonestown had an all-powerful leader and a ruling elite, and it was a prison camp from which no one could escape. It had some unique features which might make it seem aberrational, but, as the Chinese point out, “Many flowers bloom in the garden of Socialism.”
Comments