[1] El Socialista was established by Pablo Iglesias, founder of the PSOE, in Madrid,[2] and the first issue appeared on 12 March 1886.

[3] In December 1935 the control of the paper was taken by the centrist group within the PSOE led by Indalecio Prieto as a result of the resignation of Francisco Largo Caballero from the presidency of the party.

[3][12] The paper was first directed by its founder Pablo Iglesias who held the post until 1913 when Mariano García Cortes began to edit it.

[13] In 1914 Eduardo Torralba Beci was appointed editor-in-chief of El Socialista, replacing Cortes in the post.

[13][14] Torralba served in the post for one year, and Pablo Iglesias retook the paper and edited it until his death in 1925.

[13] Enrique Angulo, son-in-law of the socialist politician Ramón Lamoneda, also served as the director of the paper.