With the policy to champion democracy and liberalism, to expose the real plight of the country, and to work peacefully for economic and social reforms, the newspaper published not only articles and essays about the economic, cultural, political, and social conditions of the country, but also current news, both local and foreign, and speeches of prominent Spanish leaders about the Philippines, and information on the achievements, social doings, and whereabouts of Filipinos at home and abroad.
The newspaper also occasionally touched on events happening in the other Spanish colonies like Cuba and Puerto Rico and also provided Filipinos a means of combating the allegations of the counter propagandistas like Wenceslao Retana, Desengaños; and Pablo Feced, Quioquiap; who were believed to have been under the pay of the friars. It became the mouthpiece of Filipino propagandists during the struggle for recognition and acceptance of the Philippines by Spain, revealed the conditions of the country prior the 1896 Philippine Revolution, and depicted the aspirations of Filipino propagandists, their hopes for reforms, and their final despair at failure to obtain them by peaceful methods.
As editor of La Solidaridad, Lopez-Jaena did not receive any monetary compensation, but was given free meals, lodging, clothing, and a modest pocket money. In 1891, he collected his speeches and articles and incorporated them in his book entitled Discursos y Articulos Varios.
In writing for the newspaper, Filipino reformists used pen names: Domingo Gomez, Romero Franco; Antonio Luna, Taga-Ilog; Jose Ma. Panganiban, Jomapa; Marcelo del Pilar, Plaridel; Mariano Ponce, Tikbalang, Naning, and Kalipulako; and Jose Rizal, Dimas Alang and Laong Laan. Ferdinand Blumentritt, an Bohemian scholar, and Miguel Morayta, a Spanish historian, also worked for the newspaper.
On October 31, 1889, Lopez-Jaena passed the editorship to Marcelo del Pilar, who left his family in the Philippines, went to Spain, and literally gave his life for the newspaper. In spite of the fact that La Solidaridad had been planned before his arrival, Del Pilar quickly became the moving spirit of the reform movement. He worked indefatigably to secure the greatest possible support for the newspaper. He contacted progressive Europeans who would fight side by side with the Filipino reformists.
Lopez Jaena was in many ways more interested in Spanish politics than in Philippine affairs, and though he could be powerful, if demagogic, speaker, he was unreliable for organized work such as a newspaper demanded. Apparently an alcoholic, he had to be bribed with drinks in order for him to write his articles, according to General Jose Alejandrino, who spent some time in Barcelona before going on to study in Belgium.
La Solidaridad was totally under the direction of Del Pilar from its earliest inauguration to its ignominious death. It is true that the first editor of the newspaper was Lopez-Jaena, but the entire project and its financing were the work of Del Pilar and his Junta de la Propaganda in the Philippines. Lopez Jaena was chosen editor because, having preceded Del Pilar to Spain, he already had a reputation as a fiery political orator and had influential contact among the anticlerical republicans and masons of Barcelona, where the newspaper made its debut. But, as Lopez Jaena came to realize later, and hence became a mortal enemy of Del Pilar, his editorship was only nominal. Even during the months of Lopez Jaena's editorship, the real moving force, the conduit of funds, and the organizer of the newspaper was in the hands of Del Pilar, who wrote several articles for each issue under different pseudonyms as well as his own name to give illusion that articles and reports came from different correspondents in various parts of the world. The editorship of Lopez-Jaena was largely nominal, in terms of both the number of articles written and their substance.
The only exceptions to the anonymity besides the editor were Jose Rizal and Ferdinand Blumentritt. Under the pen names Dimasalang and Laong Laan, Rizal contributed a few of his literary piece in the early days of the newspaper. His real interest, however, was in writing historical articles, based on ancient Spananish sources showing the Filipinos the level of the culture at the time of the Spanish contact. Moreover, as he begun to publish under his own name, he also successfully urged Del Pilar to do the same to show the Spaniards that they were not afraid to defend their positions.
However, the zealous vigilance of the Spanish authorities in the Philippines, the utter indifference of the Spanish politicians in the Peninsula towards the Philippine demands, and the very internecine difference among the Filipinos themselves in Barcelona and Madrid render difficult the task of La Solidaridad.
And, he stops contributing to the Filipino democratic fortnightly. Losses such as this are of lethal effect to La Solidaridad.
Del Pilar, on the other hand, wanted Rizal to use his historical learning to refute some of the racist and demeaning articles appearing in Spanish newspapers, like the pseudo-scientific study of Tagalog theater by the Spanish academician Vicente Barrante, which attributed everything of value in Tagalog culture to Spanish influence, and put down the idea that anything of value could come out of the Tagalog race. Rizal, wrote a scathing reply under his own name, full of references to early Spanish sources.
