Noyes, Jones and Howell all formed communal groups. Whether they believed this was the way to run a better world or whether they knew it was a good way to control a large number of people will never be known for certain. However, each man used effective control mechanism to maintain a tight rein on the members.
A close reading of the material on Noyes suggests a positive environment but much of this could be biased since relatives wrote it. Nothing in the sources suggests that either Jonestown or the Davidian compound were positive environments. They may have begun as one but they certainly did not remain so.
All the groups had a common purse. Everyone turned over their property to the group or sold it and gave the proceeds to the group. All had either created or invested in businesses or worked for other people.
Communal housing in each case was usually constructed over time after the group had already formed. In Oneida each member had his own private room or shared one with another. Genders were separated. Childcare and dining were also communal and education was provided for all, men, women and children. Apparently, the members were educated, had some financial means and were white. Noyes did participate in the abolitionist group, New Haven Antislavery Society in 1832-3 but there is no indication of black members at Oneida. There were a variety of entertainments, dancing, theatricals, games of all kinds, picnics and musicals. Certainly, it sounds like heaven and very different from Jonestown and Waco.
Jonestown's communal housing was not so well planned. Before going to South America they converted houses and donated property into communal dwellings. Once in Jonestown everything was not as the brochures portrayed. Cottages for eight to ten held fourteen; instead of free time after work there were "catharsis sessions and long rambling discourses by . . . Jones." There was none of the social events as in Oneida. These sessions went on for hours and everything from personality, to sexual problems, to business matters were discussed. There were mandatory Soviet propaganda films with exams following. There were also suicide drills every two weeks. What people did, where they went and who they saw was decided by Jones. Parents and relatives whose family members belonged to the commune were prevented from seeing them.
The Davidian commune was more similar to Jonestown in structure but the members of this group were amazingly educated people. There were doctors, lawyers, nurses and computer specialist to name a few. There were some black people but unlike Jones, Howell was an extreme racist. His ideas on the sexual differences are quite extraordinary and more than a little disgusting. In Jonestown the people were 75% black, 25% white, and/or senior citizens on Social Security. The Davidian com-pound was constructed by the members and supported by the members at outside jobs or donations from wealthy members in other areas. They also started several businesses. Families were separated. Men, women and children were housed separately. The women Howell chose for wives had a special dormitory or half a dozen could be in his room at any one time. There were diet restrictions that changed according to Howell's whims and visions; he became obsessed with various food. Entertainment, in the form of music or film, was dictated by Howell. He would spend hours playing loud music to a captive audience.
Noyes, Jones, and Howell all abolish marriage. Noyes made this his doctrine from the beginning. There is no marriage in Oneida; everyone is married to everyone else. Noyes believed that there would be no marriage in heaven and therefore to set up the New Kingdom must be done away with. He believed it was possible to love many people and that sexual exclusiveness was a sin. Jones and Koresh began this practice much later in their groups, however, they did not exactly get rid of traditional marriage.
Jones abolished and arranged marriages. At one point, he encouraged "members to share sexual favors freely." Conventional sexual mores and jealousies he denounced as egotistical and hypocritical. However, he changed sexual mores as it suited him. He not only took the wives of his members, but had sex with the men in the church. In fact, Jones considered himself the only heterosexual in the group. Everyone else had homosexual desires and tendencies. Near the end of the group’s existence Jones set up a Relationships Committee. Rules for sex and marriage were created and committee approval was needed to form a union.
As for Howell, he also took the wives of his members and like Jones fathered several children by them. In Howell's group there were even problems of venereal diseases. He told his members that only he could produce "righteous children" and that God had given all their wives to him first.
All three groups have an interest in children. Oneida introduces stirpiculture in an attempt to create a spiritually superior people. Jones promoted a "rainbow family" to symbolize brotherhood, using adoption to create multiracial families. Howell wanted to raise an army of God from his own seed. He also forbade contact between the children and their natural fathers within the commune.
Criticism was used by all three groups, as well. The faults of an individual were aired in a group setting and ways of improvement were supposed to be recommended by the group. This is not supposed to be a malicious or vindictive effort but to help the person being criticized. Jones and Howell both made these experiences deliberately unpleasant by exposing personal and embarrassing information about members. The leaders are never subject to criticism. According to themselves, Noyes was God's lieutenant, Jones was God, and Howell was Jesus Christ.
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