A manifesto is a published verbal declaration of the intentions, motives, or views of the issuer, be it an individual, group, political party or government. A manifesto usually accepts a previously published opinion or public consensus or promotes a new idea with prescriptive notions for carrying out changes the author believes should be made. It often is political or artistic in nature, but may present an individual's life stance. Manifestos relating to religious belief are generally referred to as creeds.
It is derived from the Italian word manifesto, itself derived from the Latin manifestum, meaning clear or conspicuous. Its first recorded use in English is from 1620, in Nathaniel Brent's translation of Paolo Sarpi's History of the Council of Trent: "To this citation he made answer by a Manifesto" (p. 102). Similarly, "They were so farre surprised with his Manifesto, that they would never suffer it to be published" (p. 103)
Examples of notable manifestos:
The Baghdad Manifesto (1011)The Act of Abjuration (1581)The United States Declaration of Independence (1776)The Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen (1789) during the French RevolutionThe Haitian Declaration of Independence (1804) after the Haitian RevolutionThe Cartagena Manifesto (1812), by Simón BolívarThe Tamworth Manifesto issued in 1834 by Sir Robert PeelThe Declaration of Sentiments (1848)The Communist Manifesto (1848), by Karl Marx and Friedrich EngelsThe Anarchist Manifesto (1850), by Anselme Bellegarrigue.The 1890 Manifesto dealing with plural marriage, issued by Wilford Woodruff as president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.The Second Manifesto dealing with plural marriage, issued by Joseph F. Smith as president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day SaintsThe October Manifesto (1905) issued by Nicholas II, in an effort to cease the 1905 Russian RevolutionThe Manifesto of the Sixteen (1916)The Urmia Manifesto of the United Free Assyria, (1917) by Dr. Freydun AtturayaThe Liminar Manifesto in the Argentine University Revolution (1918)The Amasya Circular (1919)The Fascist Manifesto (1919), by Fasci di CombattimentoThe Manifesto of the Anti-Fascist Intellectuals (1925), by Benedetto CroceMein Kampf (My Struggle) (1925), by Adolf HitlerThe Cannibal Manifesto (1928), by Oswald de AndradeThe Regina Manifesto (1933), by the Co-operative Commonwealth FederationThe Humanist Manifesto I, II and III (1933, 1973, 2003)The Ventotene Manifesto (1941), by Altiero Spinelli and Ernesto Rossi encouraged a federation of European states, which was meant to keep the countries of Europe close, thus preventing war, it is widely seen as the birth of European federalism.The PKWN manifesto (1944), by Polish Committee of National LiberationThe Oxford Manifesto (1947) describing the basic principles of Liberal InternationalThe Objectives Resolution of Pakistan (1949), by Liaquat Ali KhanThe Russell-Einstein Manifesto (1955), against nuclear weapons and warThe Southern Manifesto (1956), opposing the Supreme Court's decision in Brown v. Board of EducationReport on the Construction of Situations (1957), by Guy DebordThe Manifesto of the 121 against the Algerian War (1960)The Sharon Statement (1960), by M. Stanton Evans et al. (Young Americans for Freedom)The Port Huron Statement (1962), by Tom Hayden et al.The SCUM Manifesto (1968), by Valerie SolanasThe Manifesto of the 343 (1971), by Simone de Beauvoir in which 343 French women admitted to having a (then illegal) abortionThe Green Book (1975), by Muammar GaddafiFor a New Liberty: The Libertarian Manifesto (1973), by Murray RothbardNew Libertarian Manifesto (1980), by Samuel Edward Konkin IIIGuy Verhofstadt's Burgermanifests: I (1981); II (1991); III (1994); IV (2006)The New Hope for Britain (1983), better known as "The longest suicide note in history", by the UK Labour PartyA Cyborg Manifesto (1985), by Donna HarawayTHE "EMPIRE" STRIKES BACK: A POSTTRANSSEXUAL MANIFESTO (1993), by Sandy StoneThe Contract with America (1994), by the Republican candidates for the House of RepresentativesDe puinhopen van acht jaar Paars (2002), by Pim FortuynThe Companion Species Manifesto (2003), by Donna HarawayManifesto on Freedom and Democracy for Vietnam (2006) by Bloc 8406The Euston Manifesto (2006) by Euston Manifesto GroupLiberty and Tyranny: A Conservative Manifesto (2009) by Mark LevinThe Revolution: A Manifesto (2009) by Ron PaulThe Rich and the Rest of Us: A Poverty Manifesto (2012) by Tavis Smiley and Cornel WestThe Leap Manifesto (2015) by a "broad coalition of Canadian authors, artists, national leaders and activists"The Symbolist Manifesto (1886), by Jean MoreasThe Futurist Manifesto (1909), by Filippo Tommaso MarinettiDu "Cubisme" (1912), by Albert Gleizes and Jean MetzingerThe Art of Noises (1913), by Luigi RussoloThe Futurist Architecture Manifesto (1914), by Antonio Sant'Elia (the Manifesto of Futurism)BLAST the Vorticist manifesto (1914), by Wyndham LewisFeminist Manifesto (1914), by Mina LoyThe Dada Manifesto (1918), by Tristan TzaraThe Dada Manifesto (1918), by Hugo BallThe Surrealist Manifesto (1924), by André BretonThe Free Cinema Manifesto (1956) by Lindsay Anderson Karel Reisz Tony Richardson Lorenza MazzettiThe Abomunist Manifesto (1959) by Bob KaufmanThe Oulipo Manifesto (1960), by François Le LionnaisFluxus manifesto (1961) by George MaciunasThe Romantic Manifesto (1969) by Ayn RandManifesto of Poetic Eggs, in "Empire of Dreams," (1998 in Spanish, 1994 in English) by Giannina BraschiDogma 95 (1995) by Lars von Trier, Thomas Vinterberg, Kristian Levring and Søren Kragh-JacobsenManifesto of Transdisciplinarity (1996) by Basarab NicolescuMinnesota declaration: truth and fact in documentary cinema (1999), by Werner HerzogFirst Things First 2000 manifesto: Ethics and social responsibility in graphic design (1999), by Kalle Lasn & Chris Dixon with Ken Garland. Edited by Rick PoynorThe Neofuturistic City Manifesto (2007), by Vito Di BariThe Versatilist manifesto (2007), by Denis Mandarino"Political Erotical Mystical Manifesto" (2011), by Kendell GeersScientific and Educational
The Behaviorist Manifesto (1913) issued by John B. Watson in opposition to the introspection method in psychologyCuster Died For Your Sins: An Indian Manifesto (1969) written by Vine Deloria, Jr.The History Manifesto (2014) written by Jo Guldi and David Armitage, published by Cambridge University PressFirst Things First 1964 Manifesto Visual Communication and Design First Things First 1964 Manifesto By Ken GarlandFirst Things First 2000 Manifesto Visual Communication and Design (Revisited) First Things First 2000 ManifestoThe GNU Manifesto (1985), by Richard Stallman, an explanation and definition of the goals of the GNU ProjectThe Hacker's Manifesto (1986), by The Mentor aka Loyd BlankenshipThe Debian Manifesto (1993), by Ian MurdockA Cypherpunk's Manifesto (1993) by Eric HughesIndustrial Society and Its Future, otherwise known as the Unabomber Manifesto (1995), by Ted KaczynskiThe Third Manifesto (1995), by Christopher J. Date and Hugh Darwen, a proposal for relational database management systemThe Cluetrain Manifesto (1999) by Rick Levine, Christopher Locke, Doc Searls and David WeinbergerThe Agile Manifesto (2001)Pluginmanifesto (2001) by Ana Kronschnabl, a Web film statementThe Hacktivismo Declaration (2001) by Oxblood Ruffin (Hacktivismo)The Mozilla Manifesto (2007), by Mozilla communityPrinciples of Programming Languages (2007), by Robert HarperYou Are Not A Gadget: A Manifesto (2010), by Jaron LanierThe Hardware Hacker Manifesto (2010), by Cody BrociousThe BINC Manifesto(2015), by Lene Andersen and Steen RasmussenThe Reactive Manifesto(2014), by Jonas Bonér, Dave Farley, Roland Kuhn, and Martin Thompson