Paul Booth (labor organizer)

Paul Booth (June 7, 1943 – January 17, 2018)[1] was an activist, anti-war protester, and lifelong labor organizer.

Paul Booth in 2016

Called "one of the labor movement’s key strategists"[2] by Harold Meyerson and "an organizer’s organizer" by American Federation of State County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) President Lee Saunders,[3] he began his work in labor movement in 1966 as research director for the United Packinghouse Workers of America. He became an organizing director for AFSCME where he worked for four decades.[4] Prior to that, he was a student organizer in the class of 1964, forming a chapter of the Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) at Swarthmore and was one of the drafters of the SDS Port Huron Statement.[5][6] He became the SDS national secretary for a year, moving to Chicago in 1965.[7] He was one of the chief organizers of the April 1965 March on Washington to End the War in Vietnam as part of SDS's Peace Research and Education Project which he co-led with Todd Gitlin.[8] In 1971, Booth co-chaired the Citizens Action Program (CAP), a group which first investigated air pollution but soon switched to exposing fraudulent underassessment of property values for tax evasion purposes. CAP’s investigations found that U.S. Steel had evaded billions of dollars in taxes through low assessment of its properties. Booth’s organizational skills and the activities of CAP inspired other groups to launch further investigations into taxation—especially property taxation—throughout Illinois.[9]

He spoke at the first day of the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia in 2016 after Hillary Clinton appointed him to serve on the Democratic Party's platform drafting committee.[1][7] He retired from his position of executive assistant to AFSCME's President Saunders in 2017 and continued to write about political strategy for the 2018 election.[10] On his retirement early in 2017, Representative Jan Schakowsky inserted into the Congressional Record an appreciation of Paul Booth's "contributions to the progressive movement as an activist, organizer, mentor and leader," praising the "rich legacy and a lasting record of achievement" that he would leave behind.[11]

Personal life

Booth grew up in Washington, D.C. His parents were both Socialist Party members: his mother was a psychiatric social worker and his father was an economist with the Department of Labor who helped craft Social Security during the Roosevelt administration.[7] He graduated from Swarthmore College in 1964.[12] He was married to Heather Booth (née Tobis) in July 1967 and was interviewed in a documentary about her life.[13] They had two children, Gene and Dan.[14]

He died January 17, 2018, from complications of chronic lymphocytic leukemia.[1]

Writings

Paul Booth (c. 1965) A Strategy for University Reform. Students for a Democratic Society. New York. Retrieved January 27, 2018.

References
  1. Roberts, Sam (January 18, 2018). "Paul Booth, Antiwar Organizer and Union Stalwart, Dies at 74". New York Times. Retrieved 27 January 2018.
  2. Meyerson, Harold. "Paul Booth, 1943–2018". The American Prospect. Retrieved 27 January 2018.
  3. Quinnell, Kenneth. "Union Organizer and Antiwar Activist Paul Booth Passes at 74". AFL-CIO. Retrieved 27 January 2018.
  4. "Remembering Paul Booth". AFSCME Now. American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, AFL–CIO. Retrieved 27 January 2018.
  5. Manners, Jane. "Joe Hill Goes to Harvard". The Nation (July 2, 2001). Retrieved 27 January 2018.
  6. "The Port Huron Statement: Still Radical at 50". In These Times. April 25, 2012. Archived from the original on 4 May 2012. Retrieved 27 January 2018.CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  7. Dreier, Peter. "Paul Booth: An Organizer's Life". Beyond Chron. Retrieved 27 January 2018.
  8. "The March on Washington". Resistance and Revolution: The Anti-Vietnam Movement at the University of Michigan 1965-1972. Michigan in the World. Retrieved 27 January 2018.
  9. Steffes, Tracy L. (February 2020). "Assessment Matters: The Rise and Fall of the Illinois Resource Equalizer Formula". History of Education Quarterly. 60 (1): 24–57. doi:10.1017/heq.2020.7.
  10. Booth, Paul. "Building an Enduring Democratic Majority". The American Prospect. Retrieved 27 January 2018.
  11. 2017  Congressional Record, Vol. 163, Page E51 (2017-01-11)
  12. Paul Booth, labor leader and antiwar activist, dies at 74, Washington Post, Harrison Smith, January 19, 2018. Retrieved August 14, 2018.
  13. Lilly Rivlin (producer, director), Heather Booth (subject, interviewee) (2016). "Heather Booth: Changing the World [documentary film]". Just Luck Production. Retrieved 2018-08-14.CS1 maint: uses authors parameter (link)
  14. Caneva, Gina. "Heather Booth: Living the Movement Life". CWLU Herstory Project. Chicago Women's Liberation Union. Retrieved 14 August 2018.


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