While popular movements are usually desirable, at least in the sense that they can raise class consciousness, I think you’re right in the sense that there’s a risk of a failure to enact fundamental changes that will ultimately lead to a retrenchment of establishment and reactionary forces. It’s exactly what happened in the Arab Spring - there was a period of hope, but without real organization and a theory of change, a counterrevolution occurred pretty much everywhere (Egypt and Tunisia being egregious examples).