MANIFESTO OF THE GUYANA DEFENCE FORCE
The Guyana Defence Force is the People's Army of the Co-operative Republic of Guyana. It stands whole-heartedly with the masses of Guyanese People and its principal function is the execution of their will. It is our duty firstly to proclaim the National ideology of Co-operative Socialism which has been embraced by the government and people of Guyana. Co-operativism for us is to be more than a political system. It is to be the way of life of our troops regulating not only their work but their very personal relations with each other and their social attitude to the civilian community. We must conduct our affairs within the framework of self-reliance and economic work. There is to be no place for officers and men who still consider that the principles of capitalism and elitism are good and that the role of the army should be to protect the interests of the small class or group of people who control wealth and property in this country. To this end we must educate all of our comrades in the GDF towards the full understanding of the co-operative way of life. The task of every army in the world is to defend the territory of its country and protect its people from external aggression and internal subversion by political renegades. This country wants and needs peace in order to pursue resolutely a policy ofNational Co-operative Development which will revolutionise social relations and economic production in Guyana. The task of the GDF is to ensure
that no enemy is allowed to abort or subvert this revolution by forcing the country to commit its limited resources to the prosecution of wasteful war. Guyana has no territorial ambitions and the GDF is not an organisation for aggression; it is a Defence Force designed to protect Guyana. For this task we must be constantly training and ever in a state of readiness and vigilance. We must continue to be fit and study carefully the rules of warfare.
The GDF is a comparatively large reservoir of manpower in a country with a population as small as ours. This manpower must not be idle and inactive even while carrying out the rigorous duties of National Defence. While the nation is at peace we must ensure that all our soldiers and commanders learn skills and contribute meaningfully to the work of national and community development. There is tremendous scope for sheer physical work in this country and we must not feel that airfields, roads and trenches can only be constructed by mechanical power. That will come afterwards. Now we must learn to use our hands and our brains and the few simple tools we can afford to buy. We must not spurn manual labour. In such a fundamental way we can contribute to national projects such as road-building and involve ourselves in community work at any level.
Even in the remotest regions of our frontiers small settlements exist, and our brothers in the hinterland have no regular contact with the capital. The GDF has
