The most dismal form of political discourse is the uplifting anecdote by which the teller seeks to demonstrate that there is a new mood in the land on account of a recent conversation with a random stranger. Yet as the student mobilisations have shown this rising generation is learning with amazing speed and things have changed.

Much though some may regret it the class struggle is not solely confined to trashing government buildings and giving Charles Windsor flashbacks of what happened to an earlier namesake. Over the past few weeks my union branch committee has been – and this is not really an exaggeration – inundated  with requests to speak at workplaces which haven’t had a union meeting in several months, or in some cases years.

Compared to yesterday’s actions they are subdued affairs. Fifteen to twenty members turn up. The big national issues that are discussed are pensions and the impact of cuts.  You get no resistance to the argument that there is a big transfer of wealth from working people and the crisis of the  banking sector is the reason for it. No one displays any appetite for working longer or paying bigger pension contributions.

The meetings really hit their stride when the discussion turns to smaller things. Even though someone has rung in sick they get a call around lunchtime to find out if they are coming in the next day. Suddenly you are asked to produce appointment cards if you have to visit the hospital. Permission isn’t given for time off to take a child to the dentist. There’s no convenient access to phones or computers.

Something has snapped inside people. They’ve been putting up with all sorts of petty insults and intimidation and they’ve started asking for their dignity back. At the meetings where I’ve spoken there wasn’t much of an appetite for fighting the cops, nor even mention of a general strike. What you saw was a remembering that organisation is important and it’s possible to push back.

It feels like something big might just be around the corner.