The basis for the last thirty years was laid throughout the post-war period, however. Paradoxically, it was the rise in working class living standards, fought for by the labour movement, that ultimately undermined it and the working class solidarity on which it relied. I remember my mother, as a factory shop steward in the 1970s and '80s, complaining about how difficult it was to get people to take action in their own interests. Most people were already more interested in soaps and football. The legendary militancy of the era, although widespread, was the preserve of a large vociferous minority. By the time of the miners' strike, when I was a factory worker myself, the working class was already on its knees politically, and the militant minority smaller. Again, myths abound about the era. Collecting for the miners in the workplace and at street collections etc, there was plenty of support, but also widespread hostility, as the polls of the time indicated.
A mass media-saturated society can only undermine working class solidarity (or any other form of solidarity), often replacing it with some Benetton-like abstract 'caring' bullshit.
