I think you are making the mistake of conflating a mass movement of working people which in reality will be made up of a whole variety of organisational forms based around both tactical/immediate and strategic/long-term programmes with an organised political party type organisation (which this thread is about).
Revolutionary and reformist (both of varying sorts) will be actively involved in any such mass movement both working together and also involved in political struggle with each other.
I am not aware that anyone is suggesting “waiting for things to get so bad that a revolution happens” – certainly I am not.
I also think that it is simply historically inaccurate to say it is imaginary that “there could or was ever a sudden historical break”.
The Russian Revolution in 1917 was exactly such a historic break. Of course it was premised on a long development leading up to that break, but a break it definitely was.