The Peoples Temple was formed by Jim Jones in [[Indianapolis, Indiana|Indianapolis]], [[Indiana]], in 1955.<ref>{{cite book |first=Catherine |last=Wessinger |year=2000 |title=How the Millennium Comes Violently: From Jonestown to Heaven's Gate |isbn=978-1889119243 |pages=31–34}}</ref> Though its roots and teachings shared more with Christian revivalCatholic movements than with [[Marxism]], it purported to practice what it called "[[Four Marks of the Church#"Apostolic" as a mark of the Church|apostolic]] [[socialism]]".<ref>{{cite book|last=Dawson|first=Lorne L.|title=Cults and new religious movements: a reader|publisher=Wiley-Blackwell|isbn=978-1405101813|year=2003|page=[https://archive.org/details/cultsnewreligiou0000unse/page/194 194]|url=https://archive.org/details/cultsnewreligiou0000unse/page/194}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine |magazine=Time |url=http://www.time.com/time/photogallery/0,29307,1859872_1799879,00.html |title=Mass Suicide at Jonestown: 30 Years Later |year=2008 |access-date=April 10, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130825114438/http://www.time.com/time/photogallery/0,29307,1859872_1799879,00.html |archive-date=August 25, 2013 |url-status=dead }}</ref> In doing so, the Temple preached that "those who remained drugged with the opiate of religion had to be brought to enlightenment{{snd}}socialism."<ref name="Layton 1998 53">{{Harvnb|Layton|1998|p=53}}</ref><ref name="q1053">Jones, Jim. [http://jonestown.sdsu.edu/?page_id=27318 "Transcript of Recovered FBI tape Q 1053."] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150205021417/http://jonestown.sdsu.edu/?page_id=27318 |date=February 5, 2015 }} ''Alternative Considerations of Jonestown and Peoples Temple''. Jonestown Project: San Diego State University.</ref> Jones had an interest in [[Joseph Stalin]], [[Mao Zedong]], and [[Adolf Hitler]] from a young age, and would later frequently praise Stalin and [[Vladimir Lenin]] as heroes.<ref>{{Cite web |title=What was Peoples Temple's plan to move to the Soviet Union? – Alternative Considerations of Jonestown & Peoples Temple |url=https://jonestown.sdsu.edu/?page_id=35388 |access-date=2022-04-27 |language=en-US}}</ref> He was also upset with persecution against the [[Communist Party USA]] and was fascinated with the influence of religion.<ref>{{cite web |last=Graham |first=Ben |date=12 May 2021 |title=Jonestown Massacre: How conman Jim Jones' final words caused 900 deaths |url=https://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/jonestown-massacre-how-conman-jim-jones-final-words-caused-900-deaths/H7TRYOAK2NJZAHDTQJWSDJSMOI/ |access-date=30 March 2022 |work=New Zealand Herald}}</ref> In the early 1960s, Jones visited Guyana – then a [[British Guiana|British colony]] – while on his way to establishing a short-lived Temple mission in [[Brazilian military dictatorship|Brazil]].<ref name="raven78">{{Harvnb|Reiterman|Jacobs|1982|p=78}}</ref>
[[File:Rev. Jim Jones, 1977 (cropped)2.jpg|right|thumb|200px|Jim Jones, founder of the Peoples Temple.]]
