In the run-up to March 26th, I developed two criteria by which to measure success: (1) it had to be big, i.e. the biggest thing since the February 15th anti-war march; and (2) it had to be a clear statement that the anti-cuts movement would not allow the TUC to strangle its militancy. On both counts I think it can broadly be considered successful.

Calculating the size of marches is notoriously difficult with police and organiser estimates typically varying by anything up to 100%. This time, organisers have put the attendance at anything between 250-500,000. Certainly, it was nowhere near the size of the February 15th anti-war march. That completely dominated vast areas of central London. Despite having two starting points and beginning early, it still remained almost static throughout. By contrast, the anti-cuts march flowed relatively quickly and many people I spoke to managed to complete the whole length (although I didn't bother).

I joined the education/book bloc feeder, catching it up part way along its route to the official start point. This numbered, perhaps a few thousand, growing as it made its way through London. In fact, it was bigger than some full-blown demos I've been on. Made up predominantly of students, quite a few of them masked up, I was surprised by the low-key police response, although we were followed much of the way in by a police helicopter.

The march itself was impressive in its scale. The unions were out in force, with an array of banners from branches across the country. Just the ones I saw included: GMB, RMT, Unison, Unite, PCS, NAPO, Musicians Union, BETCU, NUJ, TSSA, ASLEF, NUT, NASUWT, FBU, UCU and CWU. There were also a number of political parties out with the Green Party, Labour and even a small group of LibDems keen to explain that "we don't agree with Nick." And of course, there were the usual array of lefty sects, providing an exciting day out for even the most experienced lefty trainspotter: SWP, Socialist Party, RCPBML, CPGB, AWL, AGS, CPB, the Sparts and many others.

There were also a wide range of local anti-cuts groups, campaigning organisations and even a few seemingly ordinary people. The crowd was also peppered with a number of bands and soundsystems as an alternative to the otherwise repetitive chanting. Among these, that which seemed to be accompanying the Federation of Entertainment Unions (NUJ, BETCU, Equity, Musicians Union) were, perhaps unsurprisingly the best, playing a funky jazz sound.

The march followed a route familiar from a number of previous marches. Forming up on Embankment, protesters made their way down past Parliament up Whitehall to Trafalgar Square then on up to Picadilly Circus before making their way down Picadilly into Hyde Park for the rally. Here they were to be addressed by the great and the good, including prominent cuts supporter and Labour leader Ed Milliband. The rally seemed to be compèred by Tony Robinson, who may or may not have had a cunning plan for how to beat the cuts.

Despite an impressive festival-style audio set-up, it was actually very difficult to hear what was being said from the stage, not that I was all that interested in being told why I was there by an assortment of trade union bureaucrats and Z-List celebrities. Instead after a brief break, I headed down to Oxford Street to see how the UK Uncut actions were going.

By the time I arrived, it was around 3pm and police were already securing anything up to half of the shops. Many, but not all of them, had helmeted up. There was a rumour that somebody was on the roof of HSBC, but exactly where this was supposed to be, or whether it was true I never did find out. Things briefly got more exciting as the Black Bloc arrived, perhaps 5-600-strong followed several van-loads of Met Police.

A large group had accumulated at Oxford Circus for the much-hyped UK Uncut surprise occupation. Keen to avoid walking into a kettle I skirted the edge of this crowd trying to work out what was going on. The police seemed to be guarding the Apple Store, lining up in-front of it in riot gear, although I'm not entirely sure if this was ever a target.

After a while, a group of protesters broke of from the crowd and headed down Regent Street towards Picadilly Circus. From this point, I lost any sense of the big picture. There seemed to be several groups of people roaming around central London. As others have noted, these groups seemed to be very aware of police tactics and responded collectively and effectively. Nearly everybody was masked up and the vast majority in black. It was notable that they were overwhelmingly young.

There were a number of fires lit around Picadilly Circus with at least 2 fire engines being brought in to deal with them. Police vans whizzed around sirens going, the Met clearly struggling to stay on top of a situation they self evidently had no control over. Wandering down Picadilly later there were broken windows and graffiti at The Ritz and broken windows at Boots, Starbucks and even IranAir.

At Trafalgar Square, things were less confrontational (at least while I was there) with perhaps a couple of thousand gathered around Nelson's Column with fires and a soundsystem. Among the stranger sights here was somebody dressed as a Dalek dancing to the music.

The occupation at Hyde Park was not huge with perhaps 100-150 people by around 8pm, although people were still arriving and putting up tents at that time. Again occupiers were amusing themselves with fires and music. Here there was no obvious police presence whatsoever, although they may have put in an appearance after I left.

Overall, as I suggested above, a success. But we should not and cannot rest on our laurels. Now the TUC have marched their soldiers up to the top of the hill, the question arises, "What next?" TUC general secretary Brendan Barber has suggested that this is the end of the "phoney war" with the government, but the TUC actively collaborated with the police to try and avoid disorder at the demonstration, going far beyond the usual agreements which precede other large demonstrations in London. So they cannot be relied on to do what is required.

There is also a bigger issue here. Even with all its paid officers, an army of trained volunteers, an extensive publicity machine, vast financial reserves and membership numbering in the millions, the entire trade union movement going full-out for 6 months was only able to muster perhaps half a million. This in comparison to the almost entirely amateur anti-war movement (a handful of full-time Trots hardly count), which has access to nothing like the same level of resources, and on February 15th managed to turn out anything between 1-2 million.

While I don't want to dismiss the TUC's achievement out of hand - 500,000 is a lot of people - I think this should give pause to those advocating an entirely industrial response to the cuts, I'm looking at you the one-day general strike brigade. It isn't immediately clear we can guarantee widespread support for such an action, even if it was anything other than a exercise to let-off steam. So far Greece has had 8 general strikes in response to austerity measures with little obvious success.

Equally, the anarchist response is clearly insufficient. As inspiring as the Black Bloc and other actions were, it is all too easy for state capitalism to weather occasional, one-off set-piece confrontations. What is needed is to take that militancy back into our communities. Exactly what forms that will take will inevitably depend on the particular circumstances of any given area. Twenty years ago the Poll Tax was beaten because it was impossible to impose it. The cuts are a bigger, more general attack, but once again we need ensure that they become impossible to implement.

The battle lines have been drawn. This is just the beginning. I'll see you on the barricades.