The initiation was mainly due to the men who, in one way or another gathered around Giner after his return to the University in 1881, followinghis expulsion of 1875.
Giner called the acolytes of the ILE his "children" who included Julian Besteiro, Pedro Corominas, José Manuel Pedregal, Martin Navarro Flores, Constancio Bernaldo Quiros, Manuel and Antonio Machado, Domingo Barnés, José Castillejo, Gonzalo Jimenez de la Espada, Luis de Zulueta Fernando de los Rios, and others.