Absolutism versus Incrementalism

Today in class we talked about absolutism and incrementalism. We discussed whether the meat industry should be reformed (incrementalism) or abolished completely (absolutism). I believe that, if there is something wrong with the world, we need to work towards getting rid of it completely, not making it a little less wrong. I understand that it is easier and probably more practical to just work within the system to make conditions a little better, but if you truly believe that animals deserve rights and freedom, then you are betraying yourself and your beliefs if you don't try to change the system. An incrementalist view is a compromise; matters such as life and death (and animal welfare is a matter of life and death) should not be handled this way. When slavery was still happening in the U.S., an incrementalist view of slavery could be "let's just try and make living conditions for slaves better. Abolishing slavery will never happen; we should focus our efforts on making slavery a little less miserable." The slavery analogy is dramatic, but it is a fair comparison. People sometimes don't realize that it is possible to change the world. You don't have to believe those pessimistic ideas that "that's just the way the world is" and "no one ever said life was fair". If you have a sense of what is right and what is wrong, then you should honor that by not compromising your beliefs. Question: What is a good defense of incrementalism?