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Paul Booth (June 7, 1943 – January 17, 2018)[1] was an American activist, anti-war protester, and lifelong labor organizer.
Called "one of the labor movement's key strategists"[2] byHarold Meyerson and "an organizer's organizer" byAmerican Federation of State County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) PresidentLee Saunders,[3] he began his work in labor movement in 1966 as research director for theUnited 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 theStudents for a Democratic Society (SDS) atSwarthmore and was one of the drafters of the SDSPort 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 withTodd 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 thatU.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 afterHillary 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, RepresentativeJan Schakowsky inserted into theCongressional 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]
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 craftSocial Security during the Roosevelt administration.[7] He graduated fromSwarthmore College in 1964.[12] He was married toHeather 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]
Paul Booth (c. 1965)A Strategy for University Reform. Students for a Democratic Society. New York. Retrieved January 27, 2018.
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