Conference Questions (2012) forum discussion (contd)

Committee No. 1

Question 2:

“Would the Fellowship ask itself the question: “Are there too many meetings and not enough groups?”

Background

Traditions 4, 7

Pamphlet ‘The AA Group’

The Home Group: Heartbeat of AA

Consider the contribution to the carrying of the message, financial and practical implications when deliberating each question.”

Extracts

“This is to explain why I think the content of “Home Group: Heartbeat of AA” should be reviewed as a matter of urgency.

The Little Rock plan featured in “The Home Group: Heartbeat of AA, (“Lessons of Experience” chapter, page 66)” was a September 1947 AA Grapevine article written by an individual AA member. It was not representative of overall AA policy at the time. Nobody knows how honest this character was in his writing, or how long he stayed sober after the article was written. What is certain is that the fellowship’s reaction to the article at the time was one of shock and alarm, indicated by these November 1947 AA Grapevine articles:

“Mail Call for All A.A.s at Home Or Abroad

About Little Rock

How can you in the name of A.A. allow such an article as the 'Little Rock Plan' be printed in the Grapevine. . . . This sounds more like the police department or probation department plan. There is only one A.A. plan and that is right out of the book. No organization. No rules. That's the plan we in Southern California try to follow. A.M. Los Angeles, California” (AA Grapevine November 1947)

“Mail Call for All A.A.s at Home Or Abroad

More Little Rock

Good grief and little fishes! What have they got out there in Little Rock, Ark.--a concentration camp? It sure doesn't sound like A.A. to me, at least not like anything I ever heard or read about A.A. in the four years I've been in (no slip, either). Where do they get the authority to keep anybody out of the group? Or, rather, where do they get their authority--period! One of the great virtues of A.A. is that it vests authority in no one. Those people, if that's a correct report, just seem to have appropriated it on their own. Imagine bragging about making it tough for anyone to join A.A.! As I read the book, one of our obligations is to get the message to as many as we can, help everyone we can, open the door wide to everyone who knocks. H.E.T Detroit, Michigan” (AA Grapevine November 1947)

“Mail Call for All A.A.s at Home Or Abroad

Plus Little Rock

So Little Rock prides itself on being tough. . .and obviously the article you published sounded as though they pride themselves more on their slip record than on letting everyone who asks it have a helping hand from A.A. That may be a group of something but it didn't sound like an A.A. group. . . . They really believe in rules and regulations, don't they? I wonder who judges out there. E.B.T, Boston Massachusetts” (AA Grapevine November 1947)

“Mail Call for All A.A.s at Home Or Abroad

And Little Rock

Around here we were treated to quite a contrast recently. Bill came down here to speak to the regional convention. As always, he was tolerant, understanding, sympathetic--no big shot stuff from him; no expert speaking with authority. No "do's" or "don't's," or "musts." Then I read that thing from Little Rock. Quite a difference between the way they think and the way the founder of A.A. thinks. No wonder that group has only had 500 pass through it in seven years. That's pretty slow growth and quite understandable. They seem more interested in statistics on slips than in practicing A.A. T.L Memphis, Tennesse” (AA Grapevine November 1947)

In this January 1948 AA Grapevine article, a visitor to the group claimed he found no rules or restrictions. The honesty of the Little Rock plan article is questionable:

“Mail Call for All A.A.s at Home Or Abroad

A word for Little Rock

What's all this about Little Rock? I went to them 14 months ago for help and found a group more than willing--with no rules or restrictions, only that I have a sincere desire to quit drinking. I returned home with a new outlook on life for me and a way to maintain sobriety. We formed a group here in Jonesboro, Ark., in January, 1947. we, as a group, have visited Memphis, Little Rock, and Blytheville. I don't have any chips on my shoulder. I got help from all of them and realize a lot is being accomplished. Far be it from me to criticize as I am still trying to clear up my own house. I only hope I can do part of what was offered me. Pete F. Jonesoro, Arkansas"

This is the article which so offended the fellowship in 1947, but is now a lesson of experience guiding the AA new generation in the “Home Group: Heartbeat of AA”:

“Little Rock Plan Gives Prospects Close attention 

Greater Little Rock A.A. was seven years old last March and has helped establish most of the groups within the state. More than five hundred men and women have been initiated into A.A. through the Little Rock Approach Plan since its creation seven years ago when five men got together and began to use the book, Alcoholics Anonymous, which had just been published. It is interesting to note that of these men, the founders of the movement here, all are alive and only one ever had a relapse. They are living, walking proof of the statement that "it works." The Little Rock Plan was, we believe, the first of its kind in the country. By adhering strictly to the "Plan" hundreds have been brought into A.A. and because this group has kept accurate records and statistics, we can report that our success is better than the national average of 75%--or to put it another way, our "slip" record is lower than the 25% expected and reported from other groups over the country. It is not easy to become a member of this group. When a person has expressed a desire to achieve sobriety and has had a sponsor appointed for him, he must leave his work or position for at least two weeks. Usually the prospect is required to spend that entire time within the confines of the club rooms, studying, preparing a case history, meeting and filling assignments laid out by the sponsor. If, after two weeks, he has discharged his assignments to the satisfaction of his sponsor, he is brought before the executive committee and there his request for membership is presented by his sponsor in his presence. In some instances, because of the peculiarity of the case, he may not be admitted for varying periods as high as six months in some cases. However, if he is deemed eligible by the committee, he is brought before the next meeting, receives a warm welcome, is handed a copy of the "Approach Program" and the 12 Steps.

This is not all, however. We do not simply say, "Now here you are, you have had it all, go your way, and may God bless you." No, we do not cut him off in mid-air, so to speak. We give him a small diary and ask that each day thereafter for 28 days, he record his impressions of the day, any event, whether a happy one or a sad one, and enter therein, "I have not taken a drink this day," and sign his name. At the end of this period he returns the diary to the club, is again welcomed and is admitted to full membership, the privilege of the ballot and an unrestricted part in the activities of the fellowship. He is then assigned to a squad, given some definite task, and encouraged to work, guided by some older member, with new prospects. In dealing with the new man, there are other procedures. First of all, in addition to being required to adhere strictly to the assignments required by his sponsor, he serves his apprenticeship in what is known as "The Prospect Squad." Here he learns from a squad leader various phases of the work of A.A., mingles with other neophytes, hears their experiences and contributes his own. If he needs guidance or advice this is where he gets it, along with other new men, seeking the way out. There is the "slip squad," where the man who has suffered a setback, no matter how severe or how light, must serve from two weeks to six months before he is again recognized as a full-fledged member. Often the slippee is assigned tougher, more strenuous assignments than when he first was admitted. Here he discusses the slip freely with those men, who like himself, have "missed the boat" somewhere down the line. He tries to find out why he made the mistake and learns again that "to err is only human" and that a slip in the beginning is not uncommon, certainly not fatal. The executive committee is comprised of representatives from each squad. The squads meet once a week on nights other than the regular meeting and transact the actual business of the Fellowship. We spend much time in planning and executing the new man's graduation from the freshman stage. We carry him slowly and carefully through the "Prospect Squad"; admit him to membership; keep our contacts with him through that critical period, the first month or so, through his daily diary; put him in a squad after he becomes a full member and then if he slips, put him through again (and again if necessary) by way of the "Slip Squad." Credit is due the State Hospital and Fort Roots, one of the Southwest's largest veterans' hospitals, where we have complete cooperation from the entire staff of doctors and psychiatrists. From Fort Roots especially, come more and more men, having been told by the psychiatrists, "We can do nothing more for you, your best bet is A.A. It works." The courts of law in Arkansas in general and Little Rock in particular without exception lend a willing ear and helping hand to unfortunates who stand before the court and even so much as intimate that they would like to quit drinking. While we have gone far and progressed much, no small amount of credit is due to all these factors plus the attitude of all business men of this city. G.H.B. Little Rock, Arkansas” (AA Grapevine September 1947)

A successful group perhaps, in the eyes of the individual who wrote the article, though not for overall AA unity and public relations.

The Little Rock group was one of the mail order groups which started on its own, with “no personal contact with AA” (Bill W. The Language of the Heart page 64); Bill W had already published numerous Grapevine articles stating overall AA policy including “Rules’ Dangerous but Unity Vital”, “Twelve suggested points for AA Tradition” “Clubs in AA.” (The Language of the Heart pp 6, 20, 46) After the Little Rock plan article was published Bill stressed the Traditions in his Memphis talk in September 1947, urging all AA members to “strive for humility before success and unity before fame.” He then spent the next twelve months explaining each tradition in detail in the AA Grapevine. (The Language of the Heart pp 67-94)

The plan was well out of step with the fellowship as a whole at the time, and AA Traditions. I wonder how many AA groups today are modelling themselves on this plan, instead of modelling themselves on the experience of AA Tradition. And, tragically mistaken in belief that that’s what AA groups were like in the 1940s overall. To place this plan outside of its archival context and with AA traditions, in a modern book designed to lead a new AA generation, would be a hilarious mistake if its catastrophic consequences for AA unity and public relations were not so tragic. To select local or isolated pieces of factual AA history from the 1940s and to place them outside their context with the whole timescale and whole fellowship is misleading. To then deliver them in a way that implies that they are representative of the whole of AA at the time, under the heading “Lessons from Experience” is dangerous.

The Little Rock plan is an example of a group where the principles AA Traditions are totally inverted. A loud lesson in what not to do: Membership rules, requirements, organised dictatorship, militaristic squads, coercion for newcomers to take time off work to study, coercion for them meet requirements of assignments set by their sponsors, punitive behaviour, affiliation with a club.

I don’t think one has to look too far to see that some groups are modelling themselves on this plan or variations of it. This has already set in motion a similar trend in chaotic public relations and unity as was in the fellowship in the 1940s. Considering this, I think the “Home Group: Heart beat of AA” should be immediately withdrawn from sale until a full risk assessment is made on its influence on AA unity and public relations. Either AA literature is to lead the new generation to a secure future on Traditions, or we can experience what was with a dry drunk’s Little Rock plan:

“Soon the pins on our office wall map showed AA groups springing up like mushrooms. Most of them had no experienced guidance whatever. Their worries and problems were endless. Moochers mooched, lonely hearts pined, committees quarreled, new clubs had unheard-of headaches, orators held forth, groups split wide open, members turned professional, selling AA by the copy, sometimes whole groups got drunk, local public relations went haywire--such was our truly frightening experience. (Extract from “How AA’s World Services Grew Part II Bill W. AA Grapevine June 1955, The Language of the Heart page 149)

“From 1940 to 1950, we were beset by group problems of every sort, frightening beyond description. Out of these experiences the Twelve Traditions of AA were forged. . .traditions that now protect us against ourselves and the world outside. This effort, requiring immense office correspondence and experience, finally resulted in a whole new literature dealing with AA's unity and services. Under these influences we grew solid.” (“Guardian of A.A. – Our General Service Conference, AA Grapevine April 1958 , The Language of the Heart pp 168-169)

“Meanwhile thousands of our members went serenely about their business. They knew little or nothing about AA's over-all problems. They vaguely supposed that God, with maybe a slight assist from Dr. Bob and me, would go right on handling them. Thus they were completely ignorant of the actual state of our affairs, and of the awful potential there was for an ultimate collapse. (“Guardian of A.A. – Our General Service Conference, AA Grapevine April 1958, The Language of the Heart page 169)”

Cheerio

The Fellas (Friends of Alcoholics Anonymous)