(January 2015). 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.t 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 : .