Worldwide there were quite a few upheavals in the late 60s - the arc of history would have been quite different without the 60s and the 70s imo - albeit it was mostly social/cultural things in the uk (important stuff though, like the relative loosening of class structures (albeit replaced with so called 'meritocracy'), feminism, minority and gay rights being taken more seriously, unions continuing to increase their power etc) - the marches of 68 did have a lasting effect in various ways imo - as zhou enlai said when asked what the effects of the french revolution would be, 'it's too early to tell' (he wasn't talking about the original revolution as is often thought, but the paris 68 'revolution' (doesn't sound as gnomic and wise then (or as much like orientalism)) (there was also the cultural revolution going on in china at that time (didn't sound too much fun for eg teachers)) - maybe it was the sunspots (don't!).

I'd say the bigger factor in that hopefulness (in the west) not panning out was the fightback against the post war consensus, and the 'crisis of democracy' that was pushed in reaction to it, leading to neoliberalism (from it's glorious birth on september 11, 1973). They chucked us some welfare when they thought communism/socialism was a threat, but have been trying to reverse it all since the threat diminished - they've always got tame mixed economy/social democracy to fall back on as a safety valve when the oiks get too uppity, but they'd rather push forward to the neo-feudalism these days it seems. However, i think that it should still give us some hope that the bastards have to keep their propaganda and mind-mashing efforts up continuously to maintain their system - they're running to stand still (how's that for some hopium?