Unity
The Twelve Traditions stand for the Legacy of Unity.
THE TWELVE
TRADITIONS
(The Long Form)
Copyright ©
A.A. World Service
Our A.A. experience has taught us that:
1.-Each member of Alcoholics Anonymous is but a small part of a
great whole. A.A. must continue to live or most of use will
surely die. Hence our common welfare comes first. But individual
welfare follows close afterward.
2.-For our group purpose there is but one ultimate authority-a
loving God as He may express Himself in our group conscience.
3.-Our membership ought to include all who suffer from
alcoholism. Hence we may refuse none who wish to recover. Nor
ought A.A. membership ever depend upon money or conformity. Any
two or three alcoholics gathered together for sobriety may call
themselves an A.A. Group, provided that, as a group, they have no
other affiliation.
4.-With respect to its own affairs, each A.A. group should be
responsible to no other authority than its own conscience. But
when its plans concern the welfare of neighboring groups also,
those groups ought to be consulted. And no group, regional
committee, or individual should ever take any action that might
greatly affect A.A. as a whole without conferring with the
Trustees of the General Service Board. On such issues our common
welfare is paramount.
5.-Each Alcoholics Anonymous group ought to be a spiritual entity
having but one primary purpose-that of carrying its message to
the alcoholic who still suffers.
6.-Problems of money, property, and authority may easily divert
us from our primary spiritual aim. We think, therefore, that any
considerable property of genuine use to A.A. should be separately
incorporated and managed, thus dividing the material from the
spiritual. An A.A. group, as such, should never go into
business.Secondary aids to A.A., such as clubs or hospitals which
require much property or administration, ought to be incorporated
and so set apart that, if necessary, they
can be freely discarded by the groups. Hence such facilities
ought not to use the A.A. name. Their management should be the
sole responsibility of those people who financially support them.
For clubs, A.A. managers are usually preferred. But hospitals, as
well as other places of recuperation, ought to be well
outsideA.A.-and medically supervised. While an A.A. group may
cooperate with anyone, such cooperation ought never go so far as
affiliation or endorsement, actual or
implied. An A.A. group can bind itself to no one.
7.-The A.A. groups themselves ought to be fully supported by the
voluntary contributions of their own members. We think that each
group should soon achieve this ideal; that any public
solicitation of funds using the name of Alcoholics Anonymous is
highly dangerous, whether by groups, clubs, hospitals, or other
outside agencies; that acceptance of large gifts from any source,
or of contributions carrying any obligation whatever, is unwise.
Then too, we view with much concern those A.A. treasuries which
continue, beyond prudent reserves, to accumulate funds for no
stated A.A. purpose. Experience has often warned us that nothing
can so surely destroy our spiritual heritage as futile disputes
over property, money, and authority.
8.-Alcoholics Anonymous should remain forever non-professional.
We define professionalism as the occupation of counseling
alcoholics for fees or hire. But we may employ alcoholics where
they are going to perform those services for which we may
otherwise have to engage nonalcoholics. Such special services may
be well recompensed. But our usual A.A. "12th Step"
work is never to be paid for.
9.-Each A.A. group needs the least possible organization.
Rotating leadership is the best. The small group may elect its
Secretary, the large group its RotatingCommittee, and the groups
of a large Metropolitan area their Central or Intergroup
Committee, which often employs a full-time Secretary. The
trustees of theGeneral Service Board are, in effect, our A.A.
General Service Committee. They are the custodians of our A.A.
Tradition and the receivers of voluntary A.A.
contributions by which we maintain our A.A. General Service
Office at New York. They are authorized by the groups to handle
our over-all public relations and they guarantee the integrity of
our principle newspaper, "The A.A. Grapevine." All such
representatives are to be guided in the spirit of service, for
true leaders in A.A. are but trusted and experienced servants of
the whole. They derive no real authority from their titles; they
do not govern. Universal respect is the key to their usefulness.
10.-No A.A. group or member should ever, in such a way as to
implicate A.A., express any opinion on outside controversial
issues-particularly those of politics, alcohol reform, or
sectarian religion. The Alcoholics Anonymous groups oppose no
one. Concerning such matters they can express no views whatever.
11.-Our relations with the general public should be characterized
by personal anonymity. We think A.A. ought to avoid sensational
advertising. Our names and pictures as A.A. members ought not be
broadcast, filmed, or publicly printed. Our public relations
should be guided by the principle of attraction rather than
promotion. There is never need to praise ourselves. We feel it
better to let our friends recommend us.
12.-And finally, we of Alcoholics Anonymous believe that the
principle of Anonymity has an immense spiritual significance. It
reminds us that we are to place principles before personalities;
that we are actually to practice a genuine humility. This to the
end that our great blessings may never spoil us; that we shall
forever live in thankful contemplation of Him who presides over
us all.