Ricardo Flores Magón. A radical in the Rotunda of Illustrious Men

Abstract

The article examines the 1945 state funeral of Ricardo Flores Magón, a prominent figure in the Mexican labor movement, and his inclusion in the Rotunda of Illustrious Men, during president Manuel Ávila Camacho’s administration. This study delves into the symbolic analysis of state funerals within the scope of cultural history, and reflects on how this type of rituals are fundamental to the transformation of the labor movement and the focus on national unity. Furthermore, I explore how the funerary ritual, at least in this case, can be used as an interpretive framework to understand the symbolic construction of a ‘civic-religious-heroic’ imaginary.