The Propaganda Movement was a literary and cultural organization formed in 1872 by Filipino émigrés who had settled in Europe. Composed of Filipino liberals exiled in 1872 and students attending Europe's universities, the organization aimed to increase Spanish awareness of the needs of its colony, the Philippines, and to propagate a closer relationship between the colony and Spain.[1]
Its prominent members included José Rizal, author of Noli Me Tangere (novel) and El Filibusterismo, Graciano López Jaena, publisher of La Solidaridad, the movement's principal organ, Mariano Ponce, the organization's secretary[2] and Marcelo H. del Pilar.
On February 17, 1872, Fathers Mariano Gomez, Jose Burgos and Jacinto Zamora, three Filipino priests, were executed by the Spanish colonizers on charges of subversion. The martyrdom of the three priests apparently helped to inspire the organization of the Propaganda Movement, which aimed to seek reforms and inform Spain of the abuses of its colonial government.
The limited higher education in the colony was entirely under clerical direction, but by the 1880s many sons of wealthy Filipinos were sent to Europe to study. There, nationalism and a passion for reform blossomed in the liberal atmosphere. Out of this talented group of overseas Filipino students arose the so-called Propaganda Movement. On December 13, 1888 they established in Barcelona the La Solidaridad.
Poetry and pamphleteering flourished. The president of La Solidaridad was Rizal's cousin, Galicano Apacible. Among the other officers were Graciano Lopez-Jaena, vice-president, and Mariano Ponce, treasurer. Rizal, in London at the time, was named Honorary President. Unfortunately, Apacible could not hold the wrangling reformists together. It took the prestige of Rizal and the political wisdom of del Pilar to unite the Filipinos in Spain and to coordinate their efforts. Jose Rizal was this movement's most brilliant figure and his writings had a wide impact in the Philippines. Del Pilar joined the Masonic Order in Spain in 1889, one of the first Filipinos initiated into the mysteries of Masonry in Europe.
The Propaganda Movement languished after Rizal's arrest and the collapse of the La Liga Filipina. La Solidaridad went out of business in November 1895, and in 1896 both del Pilar and Lopez Jaena died in Barcelona, Spain.
Specifically, the Propagandists aims were: