I think you have a too rosy image of the ineffective and confused Occupy Wall Street protests.
Now now, OP never implied that Occupy Wall Street was effective. :-)
If anything, it points to the stark lack of class consciousness in America that even our biggest protests aren't generally able to create long lasting change.
Personally, I'm reminded of MLK's Poor People Campaign shortly before he got FBI'd. Him and the black panthers were both trying to agitate around this issue in different nonpartisan ways, and they faced extreme prejudice from the state for their trouble.