The vorticist manifesto appeared in the first issue of BLAST (June 1914), prior to the publication of any vorticist artwork. It called for great individuals to reinvigorate British culture with "vivid and violent" art.

The manifesto denies any allegiance to class, politics, or a regime in an attempt to claim BLAST as a forum both produced and consumed by exalted individuals.

The lists of BLASTS and BLESSINGS include many of the same topics. England, France, and even the Vorticists audience are damned only to be praised later on in the magazine.

The BLAST/BLESS section employs binaries in order to disrupt them. By attacking the same object from both sides, the Vorticists attempted to blur single perspectives and show a world where parallel structures swirl into the "vast planetary abstraction of the OCEAN."