What Is a Manifesto? How to Write a Manifesto

A manifesto is a written statement outlining what a person or group stands for and how they plan to effect change. These documents serve as long–form thesis statements—they put forth personal beliefs in the attempt to persuade others. It’s for this reason you might hear the words “creed” or “mission statement” as synonyms for manifesto.

Manifestos come in a few different iterations. You can use a political manifesto as a public declaration of intentions to change the world at large, whereas a personal manifesto might boldly state who you are and who you hope to become. In any case, these documents serve as valuable assessment tools—people can look back on them to see how well their practical attempts to change things for the better align with their initial goals.

The British and American English word “manifesto” derives from the Latin terms “manifestus” and “manifestum,” both of which mean “obvious.” Over time, the Latin morphed to “manifesto” (“to make public”) before changing again to a new word in Italian with the same meaning: “manifestare.” Beginning in the seventeenth century, English speakers borrowed the Italian word and returned it to the Latin “manifesto,” using it to mean a written document that elucidates beliefs and calls for change. The concept also translates into Spanish as “manifiesto.”

Writing a manifesto takes strong principles, a desire for change, and a little skill with the written word. Follow these six steps to write your own manifesto:

1. 1. Be concise. Your manifesto should be a brief, snappy set of principles and calls to action rather than an unabridged and exhaustive report of every reason you believe what you do. Choose a manifesto from a historical personage you admire, and use the first few paragraphs as a set of example sentences to compare yours against. Consider election manifestos (or political party platforms), for instance. These documents are often heavier on slogans than they are on substance—they briefly state a party’s principles in the interest of inspiring change (in this case, persuading leaders to vote for the party).
2. 2. Catch the reader’s interest. Throughout the writing process, do your best to make your manifesto as engaging as possible. Use alliteration, figurative language, and interesting analogies you’re able to derive from your own experiences. If you need a stronger word for something you’re trying to say, crack open a thesaurus and make an alternative word list. Contemplate and then decide on the one you think drives home your point the best.
3. 3. Choose your audience. Different manifestos suit different audiences. For instance, Dogme 95 (an artists’ manifesto among Danish film directors) and the Indonesian Cultural Manifesto of 1963 are both succinct expressions of several contributors’ beliefs and desires for change. These works address separate intended audiences. When it comes to your manifesto, ask yourself for whom you’re primarily writing it.
4. 4. Decide on core values. Brainstorm some main points you hope to get across in your manifesto. You can even write these as simple bullet points at first before revising them into more eloquent verbiage. Every manifesto should have a simple principle—or set of principles—to espouse. As an example, the purpose of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels’ The Communist Manifesto was to persuade the world communism would be a more effective economic and social system than capitalism. From this central premise, the authors derived all their other arguments and points.
5. 5. Map out a plan of action. Your manifesto needs to feature a call to action rather than just a set of beliefs. As its issuer, you must hope to persuade its audience to make changes because of your arguments. Provide people with guidelines as to how they can bring about the changes you seek.
6. 6. Revise your work. Proofreading is as essential to writing a manifesto as it is to any other form of essay. Odds are you should rework your first rough draft at least a few times. Consider the fact that the United States Continental Congress revised the Declaration of Independence (one of the most consequential and effective manifestos in all of history) at least eighty-six times following Thomas Jefferson’s initial draft.

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