Rock Against Racism Northern Carnival, 1978 | Thomas Blower

British Culture Archive

Thomas Blower is a documentary photographer from Manchester, UK. Thomas captured inner city Manchester in the 1970s-80s and still continues to document the changing face of the city today.

Carnival Against The Nazis

In 1978 Thomas attended the Northern Carnival against the Nazis in Manchester’s Alexandra Park. The Carnival was conceived by Rock Against Racism’s Bernie Wilcox and Geoff Brown of the Anti-Nazi League. Bernie and Geoff had been amongst the thousands of Manchester based anti-racists who travelled to the first ‘Carnival against the Nazis’ in London’s Victoria Park.

Far Right

It was on the train journey back home that Brown and Wilcox decided Manchester needed to put on its own carnival to join the fight against racism and the far right.

March from Strangeways

The Northern Carnival featured performances from X-O-Dus (Who later signed to Factory Records), Buzzcocks, China Street and Steel Pulse. Prior to the bands performing in excess of 15,000 people marched from Strangeways Prison (where it was believed the National Front had infiltrated the staff) to Alexandra Park. During the march a number of reggae, punk and steel bands played on the back of lorries creating the carnival atmosphere that would spill into the park later in the afternoon.

One big Party

Thomas “The gig itself was great. There was no violence, no antagonism, it was just one big party with thousands of people in attendance. People were drinking and smoking a bit of this and that – It was fantastic. I was big reggae fan myself, but I didn’t dance that often, though when Steel Pulse came on you couldn’t help but dance!’

Prior this feature on Thomas’s work the images below were unseen for over 40 years.