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Is group conscience a majority vote?

In short:

  • The Long Form doesn't say. Tradition Two names the group conscience as the way "a loving God" expresses Himself for the group's purpose (p. 563), and it says nothing about votes, majorities or procedure.
  • Groups did vote from the start: the Long Form has them electing secretaries and committees (p. 565). But Bill W.'s 1946 essay on money says the majority "ought not to try to coerce" the minority (there, into paying for clubs it doesn't want), and his 1947 essays say the group's leaders only carry out what they believe the group wants.
  • The idea that a group conscience means "substantial unanimity," reached after everyone has been heard, is spelled out in later literature (the 1962 Concepts; the 2018 group pamphlet). Even there, the group still votes in the end.
  • So: not simply a show of hands, and not a rule against voting either. The early texts protect the minority more than they prescribe a method.

What the Long Form says, and doesn't

Tradition Two: "For our group purpose there is but one ultimate authority—a loving God as He may express Himself in our group conscience." (p. 563). That's the whole of it. The group conscience is where the Tradition locates the authority, but the text doesn't describe how a group arrives at it.

Other Traditions show that groups made decisions in ordinary ways. "The small group may elect its secretary, the large group its rotating committee" (p. 565). Those elected are "trusted and experienced servants of the whole" who "do not govern" (p. 565). Elections were normal; government by the winners was not.

What the 1946–47 essays say about majorities

The earliest texts on the question come from money and clubs, the subjects that divided groups most.

  • The majority can't make the minority pay. In "Money" (1946) Bill notes that most members like clubs, but "the majority ought not to try to coerce" (P-17, "Money", 1946) the minority into supporting clubs they don't want or need. Clubs should be paid for by the people who want them.
  • A majority view doesn't make policy by itself. In "Clubs in A.A." (1947) he writes that "Were a vote taken tomorrow on the desirability of clubs a sizable majority of A.A.s would record a resounding 'yes'" (P-17, "Clubs in A.A.", 1947). He takes the "strong minority" who wanted no part of clubs just as seriously, and the answer A.A. settled on served both: "A.A.s who need and want clubs ought to have them" (P-17, "Clubs in A.A.", 1947), kept separate from the groups.
  • Committees serve the group's wishes. In "Will A.A. Ever Have a Personal Government?" (1947): "Each committee carries out what it believes to be the wishes of its group." (P-17, "Will A.A. Ever Have a Personal Government?", 1947). Leaders can guide by example or persuasion but "can never boss" (P-17, "Will A.A. Ever Have a Personal Government?", 1947). The New York office could "usually tell how the majority of A.A.s feel about our current problems" (P-17, "Will A.A. Ever Have a Personal Government?", 1947), but that made it a source of information, not a ruler.

None of this says how many hands make a decision. It does say a majority isn't entitled to coerce, and that knowing what most members think is useful, not binding on everyone.

"Informed" group conscience: Bill in 1957

In A.A. Comes of Age Bill describes learning that the conscience of the group, "when properly informed of the facts and issues and principles involved" (A.A. Comes of Age, 1957), was often wiser than any leader. The stress is on being informed: facts, issues and principles, not just a count.

Later literature

The word "unanimity" comes into the literature later. Concept XII (Bill W., 1962) asks that the Conference reach all important decisions "by discussion, vote, and, whenever possible, by substantial unanimity" (Twelve Concepts for World Service, Concept XII). P-16 (2018) quotes the same line as "wherever possible."

The A.A. group pamphlet (P-16, 2018) applies that to groups. It describes group conscience as representing "substantial unanimity on an issue before definitive action is taken" (P-16, 2018), with a "willingness to listen to minority opinions with an open mind" (P-16, 2018). On sensitive issues the group goes slowly, and the result "rests on more than a 'yes' or 'no' count" (P-16, 2018). But it also says all views are heard "before the group votes" (P-16, 2018), and that at business meetings "minority, or dissenting, views be heard along with those of the majority" (P-16, 2018). In this account the vote still happens. It comes last, after the listening.

What this means

The text of Tradition Two doesn't settle the mechanics, and we shouldn't pretend it does. What the early writing does settle is the spirit: no one rules, the minority isn't steamrolled, and those who serve carry out the group's wishes rather than their own. A group that votes after a full hearing is consistent with all of it. A narrow majority pushing through something a large minority opposes runs against the spirit of what Bill wrote in 1946 and 1947, though his only direct words on it are about making the minority pay for clubs.

Read it yourself

Sources

Source Pages First published
Alcoholics Anonymous, Appendix I, Long Form Two and Nine 563, 565 1946
P-17, "Money" — 1946
P-17, "Clubs in A.A."; "Will A.A. Ever Have a Personal Government?" — 1947
A.A. Comes of Age, "Unity" (Tradition Two) — 1957
P-16, The A.A. Group (and the Concepts it quotes, 1962) 28–30, 48–49 2018 printing

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 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.