A lot of people died to get the pittances we got from the ownership class. Decades of

• labor: we want to paid in real money, and work less than 12 hours a day 6 days a week
• owner: no
• labor: then we're going on strike
• owner, to the state: HELP
• the state: sends police and troops to do violence to labor

The idea that peacefully asking for stuff on its own is effective is largely ahistorical. A happy myth sold by the people who would be receiving violence.