Who changed our 4th and 9th Traditions

NAWS Claim: In 1984 the Fellowship voted to remove language from Traditions 4 and 9.

FACT:

  • In 1982 the language was removed by four individuals in World Service.
  • In 1983 the language was put back in at the fellowship's demand.
  • In 1984 the Board of Trustees called for an "emergency vote" because a group from Nebraska questioned the decision in the form of a letter. The letter from Nebraska was not a motion, and the "emergency vote" was out of order with procedure, and the Traditions. Some of the Regional Service Representatives in attendance, at the World Service Conference, protested taking a vote without the Groups deciding.

Why does this matter?

Because 2500 manuscripts were printed up, (what is now known as "The Grey Book") and sent out to all the NA Groups, which was approved to become our book in 1981.

What happened?

 A few selfish individuals did not get their way, so they made unauthorized changes to this approved draft, before it went to print. 

Why did they do that?

Because as it was originally written, and approved, only the NA Groups were considered to be NA. These changes allowed for services boards and committees to also be considered part of our fellowship.

 What happened next?

The fellowship was in an uproar, when the book came out in March of 1983, and demanded that the original essays be restored. The Second Edition came out in July of 1983, with the original essays restored, but those involved in the unauthorized changes protested, and the fellowship went back and forth, even printing a version of the Second Edition with "pasties" so you could decide which version of these paragraphs you wanted in your book. This brings us to 1984 and the "new & revised" Third Edition (not to be confused with the Third Edition Revised) brought about by the out of order "emergency vote" sparking the Tradition Wars, which still rage on today.

What are the Tradition Wars?

The Third Edition did not restore the original essays, and there were changes proposed to remove "substance-specific" language from our book, so another version was proposed. This would also remove any reference to being "recovered" or would be replaced with "recovering" or "in recovery". Third Edition Revised was voted on, and approved, to become our book "once and for all" but the original Tradition essays were not restored, so the Baby Blue was born. This is comprised of the Third Edition Revised, without stories, but with the original 4th and 9th Tradition essays.

Learn more

Read about each edition of our book, along with changes, and revisions, to learn why we had so many different printings, in such a short period of time.

First Edition Second Edition Third Edition Fourth Edition Fifth Edition Sixth Edition