Reform which is attentive to immediate social needs and at the same time moves toward further gains, and eventually, wholesale transformation.

A term rooted in the labour movement

Labour movement

The term labour movement or labor movement is a broad term for the development of a collective organization of working people, to campaign in their own interest for better treatment from their employers and governments, in particular through the implementation of specific laws governing labour...

, it is now used widely in other social movements and activism

Activism

Activism consists of intentional efforts to bring about social, political, economic, or environmental change. Activism can take a wide range of forms from writing letters to newspapers or politicians, political campaigning, economic activism such as boycotts or preferentially patronizing...

. André Gorz

André Gorz

André Gorz , pen name of Gérard Horst, born Gerhard Hirsch, also known by his pen name Michel Bosquet, was an Austrian and French social philosopher. Also a journalist, he co-founded Le Nouvel Observateur weekly in 1964...

, in his book Strategy for Labor, refers to a "non-reformist" or "structural" reform. The distinction is made between "reformist reform" and "non-reformist reform." The former simply shores the system, allows capitalism to function more and more effectively while "non-reformist reform" in a cumulative fashion tends to transform the system.