Chapter 7.2
DECENTRALIZATION - PROMISES AND REALITY
The First General Service Conference
One uses one's principles
to tyrannize or justify or honor or affront or conceal one's
habits. Two men with similar principles may easily want totally
different things with them.
Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche, BEYOND GOOD
AND EVIL (Chicago, Illinois; Henry Regnery Company 1955)
p. 75 -- (Gateway Edition p. 77)
We
here set forth in full the proposal:
PROPOSAL
BY
THE TRUSTTEES, DR. BOB and BILL
for
THE
GENERAL SERVICE CONFERENCE of ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS
1. Purpose
a. To
become basic guardian of A.A. traditions and world wide service.
b. To
perpetuate The Alcoholic Foundation and the A.A. General Headquarters
at New York City.
c. To
be a service body only; never a government.
2. Composition
a. The
proposal will include A.A. State and Provincial Delegates, Trustees
of the Foundation and Staff members of the General Service Office
and Grapevine.
b. Delegates
to be in each State by Representatives from local Groups.
c. Two
State Panels to be chosen every two years alternately.
1. Panel
#1 composed of Delegates from thickly populated States and Provinces,
to meet every other years.
2. Panel
#2 composed of Delegates from balance of States and Provinces,
to meet in alternate years.
3. Relation
of Conference to A.A.
a. Vehicle
for expression of views on matters vital to A.A.
b. Vehicle
to protect policy of A.A. and guard against hazardous deviations
from original Traditions.
c. A
reliable guide to right thought and right action on serious
matters pertaining to A.A.
4. Relation
of Conference to General Headquarters
a. A
dependable guide to The Alcoholic Foundation, whose Trustees
are the Custodian of A.A. general funds, the book, "Alcoholics
Anonymous",, the General Service Office and the Grapevine.
b. To
consult with Trustees in filling vacancies on the Foundation
Board.
c. To
guide Trustees in their direction of A.A. Foundation work.
d. Finally,
after successful operation, to control final shape and form
of the movement.
5. State
and Provincial Delegates
a. State
and Provincial Delegates to be chosen for two years terms as
indicated above (2 b and c)
6. Conference
Rotation
a. Overlapping
of 2 panels of State and Provincial Delegates
b. First
Year Panel #1 to be composed by inviting one two-year Delegate
from each of 28 States and Provinces having largest A.A. population,
plus a few Delegates additional from States approaching 5,000
A.A. population
c. Second
Year Panel #2 to be composed by inviting one two-year Delegate
from the balance of States and Provinces, also including extra
Delegates from States and Provinces approaching 2,000 A.A. population
d. Third
Year Panel #1 areas will elect new Delegates
e. Fourth
Year Panel #2 areas will do the same.
7. Conference
Delegates
a. Selected
from largest centers of A.A. population
b. Panel
#2 to include Delegates from second largest centers of all States
and Provinces
8. Method
of selection of Delegates
a. To
be chosen by Assemblies of A.A. Group Representatives, by at
least, a two third vote.
9. Financial
Structure
a. Each
A.A. Group to make a $5.00 contribution to Alcoholic Foundation
Conference Fund.
b. Groups,
participating, to pay Delegates expenses up to $100.00
c. Conference
Fund expects to pay expenses over $100.00
10.Meetings
a. Yearly,
at New York
b. Extra
meetings only in emergency
c. Two
Thirds of Delegates registered considered a quorum
11.Procedure
a. Financial
reports of the Foundation.
b. Financial
reports of the Headquarters Services
c. Consideration
of Finance and Policy matters of importance
d. Suggestions
and resolutions
e. Consideration
of any deviation from A.A. Traditions or misuse of "Alcoholics
Anonymous"
f. Election
of Conference Officers
g. Draw
on by-laws
h. Committee
to draft full report of proceedings and the state of A.A. generally,
to be sent to groups throughout the world.
12.General
Warranties of Conference
a. To
observe the spirit of A.A. Traditions
b. To
guard against any enforcement of wealth or power.
c. To
assure adequate operating funds plus ample reserves
d. To
assure that no member of the Conference shall ever have unqualified
authority
e. To
make all important decisions by discussion and vote
f. To
guard against any resolution that will incite public or private
controversy
g. To
see that the Conference never attempts to govern Alcoholics
Anonymous
h. To
guarantee that the Conference shall always be democratic in
thought and action.
About
that Conference, Clarence wrote to Dorothy on March 9, 1951:
Fact
of the matter is, that over 4 years ago, Bill had this idea
of a gen. service conference, and he spoke to me about it in
his office in N.Y at that time. How can one suggest that this
is some new development in A.A.?
The
question is, WHY A CONFERENCE? Personally, I must go along with
all the oldtimers who feel that as A.A. grows larger and becomes
more accessible, the need for any important control in N.Y.
or any other place diminishes. Of what constructive use is the
N Y. office to Cleveland, Canton, Mansfield, Chicago, Los Angeles,
or Podunk? We have our groups, and all anyone would have to
do is take his choice of several ways of contacting A.A.. He
would look in the Phone book in most any town, he could ask
the first cop he would meet, he could talk to most any judge,
he could ask most any clergyman, and most social workers, also
he could inquire at any newspaper office and the editor could
locate an A.A., since he probably is one himself. I am willing
to bet, that if you stood on the corner of E. 9th
and Euclid, or Hollywood and Vine, and asked the first five
people you see walking by, how you could get help for your drinking
problem, or how to get in touch with A.A., you would get help...
If they want an office, surely they can operate an office to
ship books, literature etc. and an occasional referral to a
group, on a heluva lot less than 250,000.000 to 350,000.00 per
year. Or am I and a lot of other guys nuts?
It
would be unfair today to say that the New York office only handles
an "occasional" referral. There are hundreds of requests, queries,
and out of town visitors that come to New York. But, Dr. Bob's
and Bill's stated intent had been to lessen the organization
and professionalizing of A.A.
Then
there was the matter of control and element of "government."
The proposed Conference albeit a noble idea, was still a government,
a supposed government comprised of representation from all of
the groups.
There
were "Twelve Suggested Principles" in the proposal for the General
Service Conference, entitled, "Your Third Legacy - Will you
accept it? by Dr. Bob and Bill," printed in October 1950 under
Section five (temporary Charter for the General Service Conference).
Principle
Twelve: General Warranties of the Conference, Q&A Section
dealing with the Conference and Headquarters stated:
While
it can publicly deplore misuse of the A.A. name or departures
from Tradition, it ought never attempt punishment or legal restraint
of non-conformists in A.A. or out. The Conference will give
us an example and a guide, but not a government. A personal
government is something, God willing, that Alcoholics Anonymous
will never have.
It
should be noted that Alcoholics Anonymous obtained a registered
trademark status for the circle and triangle emblem, for the
initials, "A.A." and for the name, Alcoholics Anonymous, and,
since 1950, the Board of Trustees, has brought suit or threatened
suit, against numerous people and companies who have used use
either the A.A. name or emblem. Thus have caught "legal restraint"
against those "non-conformists" both in A.A. and out.
Clarence
remembered that, on a several occasions, Bill came to Cleveland
and Akron to "sell" the membership on the idea of the conference,
and that many members were against the idea. They were afraid
of the possibility of an A.A. "government" based in the New
York office. The mid-west A.A.s had a program, both successful
and continuously growing. Why did they need such a Conference,
they felt?
Bill
argued that the Conference was needed to insure that such a
government would never take place. Thus, on July 10, 1946, Bill
had written to the Board of Trustees of the Foundation as follows:
It
cannot be denied that the Alcoholic Foundation of today is quite
undemocratic, and not enough responsible to the A.A. movement
which supports it and depends upon it.
Though
Bill apparently had planned for the Conference to have authority
over the Board of Trustees. "Our Trusted Servants..." Clarence
felt that the Conference was merely a means to keep the Fellowship
quiet, while the Board "did their own thing, apart from what
A.A. really should be," as he put it.
CONFERENCE
HIGHLIGHTS, "a Special Report for the Groups on the General
Service Conference of A.A." gave the following reasons for the
establishment of the Conference:
Since
the founding of A.A the many services and policy decisions required
to 'keep it going' at the national and international level have
been handled by the founders and their friends through the Alcoholic
Foundation. As A.A. has grown, the importance of sharing
this responsibility with the membership has become increasingly
clear. It has become clear that the 'collective conscience'
of A.A. should help insure the survival of the movement. The
General Service Conference is the means whereby that 'collective
conscience' can be expressed and can guide the Trustees of the
Foundation on matters of policy affecting A.A. today and tomorrow.
There
were 37 delegates attending that first Conference. At the Conference
William I.D. (Bill D., A.A. #3) of Akron represented Cleveland;
and Bert P. represented Columbus, Ohio.
Clarence
always disliked the ideas of Conferences, whether International
or General Service. Clarence was wary of the reasons for such
affairs. In a letter to Dorothy, dated March 9th,
1951, he wrote:
So
it is just another one of those cut and dried affairs cooked
up, such as the conference last summer at Cleveland was [the
International Conference]. Please don't let anyone around here
get the idea that you don't know what a cooked up deal that
was by Wilson and the S. brothers, the groups found out piece
by piece of what took place. That was another fiasco. They were
talking about 30 to 50,000 members in attendance at various
times, and they wound up in the hole. Had about 4,000 members
there not counting the wives and outsiders. Very few from Cleveland,
I am proud to say. They came from all around where people were
not in a position or inclined to know. Bill keeps talking dramatically
about the million who do not yet know. Boy those are his hope.
He sure don't want anyone to know either. When anyone around
him gets to know anything, poof, off goes the head.
The
first A.A. Conference appeared to be a success. The fellowship
was supposed to now have a "participating responsibility in
determining the future of A.A.." However, Clarence still had
difficulty obtaining any information from the Board of Trustees
regarding policy and where the money went. The minutes and actions
of the Board were "classified," and neither Clarence, nor the
Fellowship at large was allowed to know what actual facts place
behind its closed doors. Conference delegates were not privy
to this information either.
Clarence
was for keeping things simple. He wrote:
As
far as I am concerned, this is a Fellowship, and that it should
remain All we need is simplicity. The steps, the absolutes,
and a couple of alkys who want to do something with themselves.
Then we are in business... Of course I feel I am right in this,
and if I am in the wrong, a lot of smarter guys and gals than
I are in the wrong with me. But based on pure principles, I
can't see how they can be wrong, since they are enjoying a quality
of life which is so distinguished in contrast to the miserable
existence which once was. These persons also, I have noticed
do not find it necessary to find refuge in sanitarium hideaways,
nor comfort in psychiatrists*. I just string along with them
on the basis of their happy experiences.
*Clarence may here have been referring to Bill
Wilson's bouts with depression and pills which Clarence stated
happened several times during Bill's "sobriety".
Decentralization
of power never came to pass.
Dr. Bob,
Clarence, and many of the other early Ohio members envisioned
A.A. as a simple Fellowship, designed to help the still sick
and suffering alcoholic "recover from a seemingly hopeless state
of mind and body." But as the years passed, Clarence felt A.A.
no longer resembled the A.A. he had attended back in the 1940's.
Henrietta Seiberling's warning that "money will spoil this thing,"
had, in Clarence's mind, come to pass.
