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What is the Long Form of the Traditions, and why read it instead of the short form?

In short:

  • The Long Form is the original wording of the Twelve Traditions, first printed in the A.A. Grapevine in 1946. The short form, which the Big Book calls "the form in general use today" (p. 561), is a condensed version made from it a few years later.
  • The Big Book prints both, in Appendix I: the short form on page 562 and the Long Form on pages 563–566. It says the Long Form is "more explicit" (p. 561).
  • The short form drops a great deal: who a group may refuse (no one), what counts as a group, how clubs and hospitals must be set apart from the groups (hospitals "well outside A.A."), what professionalism means, and more. Reading only the short form, you miss much of what the Traditions actually say.

Where it comes from

Appendix I calls the short form "a condensed version of the original 'long form' A.A. Traditions as first printed in 1946" (p. 561). Bill W. published those original twelve points as "Twelve Points to Assure Our Future" (P-17, Foreword, 1955), and explained them in a series of Grapevine essays in 1946 and 1947, now reprinted in the pamphlet P-17.

The short form came later. Bill says the idea of cutting the Long Form down to the length of the Steps came from Earl T. of Chicago "in 1947, or thereabouts" (A.A. Comes of Age, 1957). The Traditions were confirmed at Cleveland in 1950 (p. xix), and Bill says they had already been cut down to the short form by then (A.A. Comes of Age, 1957).

P-17's introduction says plainly what happened to the wording. "In all but the Second Tradition" (P-17, introduction), it says, the original language was changed or shortened.

What the short form leaves out

Laid side by side, the Long Form says much more. Some of the biggest differences:

  • One. The short form says the common welfare comes first. The Long Form says why (each member is "but a small part of a great whole," and A.A. must live or most of us will die) and adds a line the short form drops: "But individual welfare follows close afterward" (p. 563).
  • Three. The short form gives the one requirement for membership. The Long Form says A.A. should include all who suffer from alcoholism, "Hence we may refuse none who wish to recover" (p. 563), that membership should never depend on "money or conformity" (p. 563), and that any two or three alcoholics gathered for sobriety may call themselves a group, "provided that, as a group, they have no other affiliation" (p. 563). The definition of an A.A. group, and its ban on outside affiliation, are only in the Long Form.
  • Four. The short form says groups are autonomous except where others are affected. The Long Form spells out the exceptions: consult neighbouring groups when your plans affect them, and confer with the trustees before any action that might greatly affect A.A. as a whole (p. 563).
  • Six. The short form is one sentence about endorsing, financing or lending the A.A. name. The Long Form is a full paragraph: property should be separately incorporated, "thus dividing the material from the spiritual" (p. 564); a group "should never go into business" (p. 564); clubs and hospitals should be set apart so the groups can drop them; hospitals belong "well outside A.A.—and medically supervised" (p. 564); and a group "can bind itself to no one" (p. 564).
  • Seven. The Long Form warns against public fundraising in A.A.'s name, large gifts, gifts with strings, and treasuries that pile up money "for no stated A.A. purpose" (p. 564).
  • Eight. Only the Long Form defines professionalism: "the occupation of counseling alcoholics for fees or hire" (p. 564).
  • Nine. The Long Form describes rotating leadership and says leaders "derive no real authority from their titles; they do not govern" (p. 565). The short form moved "they do not govern" into Tradition Two.
  • Ten. The Long Form names the outside issues: "politics, alcohol reform, or sectarian religion" (p. 565), and says the groups "oppose no one" (p. 565).
  • Eleven. Only the Long Form says: "There is never need to praise ourselves" (p. 565).
  • Twelve. The Long Form says anonymity means practising "a genuine humility" (p. 566).

Two, the one Tradition P-17 says kept its original language, is the same sentence in both forms; the short form adds the "trusted servants" line from Nine (pp. 562–563).

Two printings of the Long Form

The Long Form in the Big Book and the one in P-17 are almost word for word the same, with small updates. In P-17, Tradition Four tells groups to confer with "the trustees of The Alcoholic Foundation" (P-17, Foreword, 1955), with a footnote that the Foundation was renamed the General Service Board in 1954. The Big Book's printing says "the trustees of the General Service Board" (p. 563). P-17's Tradition Three reads "all who suffer alcoholism," where the Big Book has "all who suffer from alcoholism" (p. 563). Neither change alters the meaning, but it's worth knowing that the Big Book copy has been brought up to date.

Why it matters

A short summary is easy to quote and easy to bend. "Each group should be autonomous" can be made to sound as if a group can do anything, until you read the Long Form's limits. "An A.A. group ought never endorse..." can sound like a narrow rule about logos, until you read a paragraph that keeps hospitals outside A.A. altogether. The Long Form is the fuller statement, and the Big Book reprints it for that reason.

Read it yourself

Sources

Source Pages First published
Alcoholics Anonymous, Appendix I, short form and Long Form 561–566 Long Form 1946; short form by 1950
Alcoholics Anonymous, Foreword to the Second Edition xix 1955
P-17, introduction and Foreword (the original "Twelve Points") — pamphlet © 2019; foreword dated 1955; Points 1946
A.A. Comes of Age (origin of the short form) — 1957

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 and A.A. Comes of Age 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.