# What does the Foreword to the First Edition say A.A. is for?

**In short:**
- The 1939 foreword says the book's main purpose is to show other alcoholics exactly how the first hundred members recovered.
- It says A.A. is not an organization in the usual sense: no fees or dues, no tie to any religion, and one requirement for membership, an honest desire to stop drinking.
- Its one sentence of purpose for the fellowship is: "We simply wish to be helpful to those who are afflicted." (p. xiv).
- It asks especially to hear from readers who have started working with other alcoholics.

## The whole foreword, in order

The Foreword to the First Edition is under two pages long (pp. xiii–xiv). The fourth edition prints it "as it appeared in the first printing of the first edition in 1939" (p. xiii). Read straight through, it says six things.

1. **Who "we" are.** More than a hundred men and women who have recovered from "a seemingly hopeless state of mind and body" (p. xiii).
2. **What the book is for.** "To show other alcoholics precisely how we have recovered is the main purpose of this book." (p. xiii). The hope is that the account will convince them without further proof, help everyone understand that the alcoholic "is a very sick person" (p. xiii), and show that this way of living has advantages for all (p. xiii).
3. **Why the members are anonymous.** The reason it gives is practical: there were too few of them to handle all the personal appeals the book might bring, and most had jobs to keep: "We would like it understood that our alcoholic work is an avocation." (p. xiii). Members writing or speaking in public are asked to call themselves "a member of Alcoholics Anonymous" (p. xiii), and the press is asked to respect that (p. xiii).
4. **What A.A. is not.** It is not an organization in the conventional sense of the word (pp. xiii–xiv). "There are no fees or dues whatsoever." (p. xiv).
5. **Who can belong.** "The only requirement for membership is an honest desire to stop drinking." (p. xiv). A.A. is not allied with any faith, sect or denomination, and opposes no one (p. xiv).
6. **What it wants.** "We simply wish to be helpful to those who are afflicted." (p. xiv). It asks to hear from readers who are getting results, "particularly from those who have commenced work with other alcoholics" (p. xiv), and offers to help them. It welcomes inquiry from scientific, medical and religious societies (p. xiv).

## What this shows

In 1939 the fellowship's stated purpose was to help alcoholics recover, and the book was the way to reach the ones the members couldn't reach in person. The foreword's one request of its readers is about carrying the message: it wants to hear most from those who have started working with other alcoholics, the work Chapter 7 describes (see *What does Step 12 really say?*).

Nothing in the foreword sets up rules for members, a program of meetings, or any kind of authority. It describes a loose fellowship of people helping drinkers.

## How it was used later

*Pass It On* (1984) quotes the foreword's sentences about fees, membership and faith and says that, "With a few changes and additions," that statement of purpose came to be read as a preamble at meetings (Pass It On, 1984). Bill W.'s 1969 talk, printed in P-53, says the first printing of the book had expressed fear of being flooded with "undesirable" people, and that part was taken out after the first printing because A.A. was found to work for all sorts of people (P-53). P-53's footnote points to the foreword's phrase about "the overwhelming number of personal appeals" (P-53). The foreword as the fourth edition prints it still contains that phrase (p. xiii), so our text doesn't show exactly what was removed.

## Read it yourself
- Foreword to the First Edition (pp. xiii–xiv), free from A.A.: https://www.aa.org/sites/default/files/2021-11/en_bigbook_forewordfirstedition.pdf
- P-53, *The Co-Founders of Alcoholics Anonymous* (Bill W.'s 1969 talk): https://www.aa.org/sites/default/files/literature/P-53_0725.pdf
- The full book is sold by A.A. World Services: https://onlineliterature.aa.org
- Related: *Why was the Big Book written, and when?* · *How many members were there in 1939?*

## Sources
| Source | Pages | Date |
|---|---|---|
| *Alcoholics Anonymous*, Foreword to the First Edition | xiii–xiv | 1939 (first printing) |
| *Pass It On* | — | 1984 |
| P-53, Bill W.'s last major talk | — | October 1969; pamphlet © 2017 |

Page numbers are from the fourth edition (2001).

*Recovery Starts is independent and not affiliated with Alcoholics Anonymous. Quotations are brief and cited; the Big Book,* Pass It On *and P-53 are © A.A. World Services, Inc.*