Talk to Recovery EinsteinYou're not alone — day or night
Home › A.A. questions, from the books › Who A.A. is for, and what it is not

Where does "cooperation but not affiliation" come from?

In short:

  • The phrase isn't in the Big Book, in the 1946 Long Form or in Bill W.'s 1946–47 essays. In our sources it appears in later pamphlets: The Twelve Traditions Illustrated (P-43, © 1971, this printing updated 2023), The A.A. Group (P-16, 2018), and a Conference policy statement printed in P-17, which words it "cooperation but nonafiliation" (so spelled in P-17, "A.A. and Alcoholism").
  • The idea is in the Long Form of Tradition Six (1946): "While an A.A. group may cooperate with anyone, such cooperation ought never go so far as affiliation or endorsement, actual or implied." (p. 564).
  • The cooperation half goes back to 1939. Chapter 7 tells members finding drinkers through doctors and ministers: "So cooperate; never criticize." (p. 89).
  • It describes how A.A. and its groups relate to others. It doesn't bind the organizations A.A. cooperates with.

The search

All our sources were searched for the words cooperation but and cooperate but, with line breaks joined. Every hit is in P-43, P-16 or P-17's undated policy statement. None is in the Big Book, in the Long Form or in Bill's Grapevine essays of 1946–47.

The idea, in the earliest texts

1939. The Big Book's members cooperated with doctors, ministers and hospitals from the start. To find drinkers who want to recover, ask "a few doctors, ministers, priests or hospitals" (p. 89); "Ministers and doctors are competent and you can learn much from them if you wish" (p. 89); "So cooperate; never criticize." (p. 89). "To be helpful is our only aim." (p. 89). An approach through a doctor or an institution "is a better bet" than through the family (p. 91). The book thanks a hospital that suggested A.A. to its patients (p. 162). The 1939 Foreword: "We are not allied with any particular faith, sect or denomination, nor do we oppose anyone." (p. xiv).

1946, the Long Form. Tradition Six draws the line the later phrase names: an A.A. group "may cooperate with anyone," but never as far as "affiliation or endorsement, actual or implied" (p. 564). "An A.A. group can bind itself to no one." (p. 564). Tradition Three adds that two or three alcoholics may call themselves an A.A. group "provided that, as a group, they have no other affiliation" (p. 563).

1946–47, Bill W.'s essays. - "Everywhere we cooperate with hospitals." Many give A.A. special privileges and working arrangements, "But none of these institutions are known as 'A.A. hospitals.'" (P-17, "Money", 1946). - "As groups, we cannot endorse, finance or form an alliance with any other cause, however good" (P-17, "Dangers in Linking A.A. to Other Projects", 1947). Members may work in other fields as individuals, careful of the A.A. name.

1955 and 1957. - "We will cooperate with practically everybody, yet we decline to marry our Society to anyone." (P-17, "Why Alcoholics Anonymous Is Anonymous", 1955). - The Foreword to the Second Edition (1955): A.A. doesn't take any particular medical point of view, "though we cooperate widely with the men of medicine as well as with the men of religion" (p. xx). - A.A. Comes of Age (1957): no A.A. group should ally itself "with any particular brand of medical or psychiatric treatment" (A.A. Comes of Age, 1957). In the next breath: "We can cooperate with anyone." (A.A. Comes of Age, 1957).

The phrase itself, in later pamphlets

  • P-43 (The Twelve Traditions Illustrated, © 1971; our copy is a 2023 update, so the passage can't be dated to 1971 for certain): "Toward outside agencies dealing with alcoholism, the A.A. policy is 'cooperation but not affiliation.'" (P-43). Its examples of cooperating: welcoming referrals from clinics, sponsoring A.A. groups in institutions. Its examples of crossing the line: soliciting money for a rehab at an A.A. meeting, and A.A. being listed as a beneficiary of a fund drive.
  • P-17's policy statement, "A.A. and Alcoholism." Undated, affirmed by the General Service Conference, printed in the 2019 pamphlet: the movement has adopted a policy of "cooperation but nonafiliation" (P-17, "A.A. and Alcoholism"; so spelled) with other organizations concerned with the problem of alcoholism.
  • P-16 (The A.A. Group, 2018) uses the phrase several times: service committees serve the community "through our Sixth Tradition of cooperation but not affiliation" (P-16, 2018); "A.A. has adopted a policy of cooperation but not affiliation with other organizations concerned with the treatment of alcoholism." (P-16, 2018); "Our Traditions encourage cooperation but not affiliation." (P-16, 2018).

What it covers and what it doesn't

In all these texts the phrase describes what A.A. and A.A. groups do: work alongside doctors, hospitals, treatment facilities, courts and others, while never becoming part of them, financing them, endorsing them or lending them the A.A. name. It doesn't tell those organizations how to run, and A.A. members working in them do so as individuals. See What does "no outside affiliation" mean in practice? and Tradition Six: can an A.A. group partner with a treatment centre?

Read it yourself

Sources

Source Pages First published
Alcoholics Anonymous, Foreword to the First Edition; Chapters 7 and 11 xiv, 89, 91, 162 1939
Alcoholics Anonymous, Appendix I, Traditions Three and Six (Long Form) 563–564 1946
P-17, "Money" — 1946
P-17, "Dangers in Linking A.A. to Other Projects" — 1947
P-17, "Why Alcoholics Anonymous Is Anonymous"; Foreword to the Second Edition xx 1955
A.A. Comes of Age — 1957
P-43, The Twelve Traditions Illustrated, Tradition Six — © 1971; this printing updated 2023
P-17, "A.A. and Alcoholism" (Conference policy statement) — undated; in the 2019 printing
P-16, The A.A. Group 25–26, 38–40 2018

Big Book page numbers are from the fourth edition (2001). Our copy of A.A. Comes of Age has no printed page numbers, so it's cited by book and year.

Recovery Starts is independent and not affiliated with Alcoholics Anonymous. Quotations are brief and cited; the Big Book, A.A. Comes of Age, P-43 and P-16 are © A.A. World Services, Inc.; the P-17 articles are © AA Grapevine, Inc.

These pages answer questions about A.A. from A.A.'s own published literature, read in full, with every quote checked word for word against the page it cites. Recovery Starts is independent and not affiliated with Alcoholics Anonymous. What we read, and when each source was written.