Eighteen in Akron

Before A.A. had a single Tradition, its two founders could not move without a vote of the members. In the fall of 1937 Bill W. and Dr. Bob wanted paid missionaries, a chain of hospitals and a book. Dr. Bob suggested trying the ideas on the Akron members first. Eighteen of them sat in a living room and heard the plan. Bill remembered (A.A. Comes of Age): "Paid workers, they said, would kill our good will with alcoholics: this would be sheer ruin. If we went into the hospital business, everybody would say it was a racket." The founders pushed back, and a vote was taken. The plan passed by the barest majority. Years later Bill admitted the minority had been right about the paid missionaries and the big business, and wrote: "Though I did not see it then, the group conscience of Alcoholics Anonymous was already at work hammering out right decisions for A.A.'s future." Notice the order. The founders proposed. The members decided, and the losing side was heard all the same. Nine years later the Long Form wrote it down (Big Book, p. 563): "For our group purpose there is but one ultimate authority—a loving God as He may express Himself in our group conscience." Test it tonight: ask whether your group's members, not its founders or its hosts, decided the last big change in your room.