Are the Traditions rules? Who do they apply to: groups or members?
In short:
- They aren't rules in the sense of laws someone can enforce. The Big Book says "none of these principles had the force of rules or laws" (p. xix), and no one in A.A. has the power to make a group obey them.
- They aren't mild either. The Long Form says "never" in plain words: a group should "never go into business" (p. 564), and ordinary A.A. Twelfth Step work is never to be paid for (pp. 564–565). Groups keep them because experience showed what happens when they don't.
- Most of the Traditions speak to A.A. groups and to A.A. as a whole. But several also speak to members when they act as A.A. members or could implicate A.A.: in public, in the press, and when money is involved.
- They govern A.A. They don't govern anyone outside it.
Not rules: what the books say
The Foreword to the Second Edition (1955) says it directly: "Though none of these principles had the force of rules or laws, they had become so widely accepted by 1950 that they were confirmed" at Cleveland (p. xix).
Introducing the original Twelve Points, Bill W. called them "these suggestions" (P-17, Foreword, 1955) for a tradition of relations, and asked whether they could grow into traditions held "by his own deep conviction and by the common consent of his fellows" (P-17, Foreword, 1955). Looking back in 1957, he wrote that a code of traditions "could not, of course, ever become rule or law" (A.A. Comes of Age, 1957), but could guide the trustees, the New York office, and "especially" groups with growing pains.
Bill's 1947 essay on authority explains why there's no one to enforce them. Nowhere in A.A., he wrote, is there any human authority that "can compel an A.A. group to do anything" (P-17, "Will A.A. Ever Have a Personal Government?", 1947). Groups follow the Traditions for the same reason members follow the Steps: "Groups see they would disintegrate if they didn't" (P-17, "Will A.A. Ever Have a Personal Government?", 1947).
He also warned against turning them into a rulebook: "We could victimize ourselves by petty rules and prohibitions" (P-17, Foreword, 1955).
But not optional extras
The Long Form opens "Our A.A. experience has taught us that:" (p. 563). Its language is "ought" and "should," and in places "never": - "An A.A. group, as such, should never go into business" (p. 564). - Cooperation with outsiders "ought never go so far as affiliation or endorsement, actual or implied" (p. 564). - "Alcoholics Anonymous should remain forever nonprofessional" (p. 564).
Bill's essays explain each "never" with what went wrong when groups tried otherwise (see Why were the Twelve Traditions written?). So the honest answer is: unenforced, but firm.
Who they speak to
Groups and A.A. as a whole, mainly. Appendix I says they answer "How can A.A. best function?" and "How can A.A. best stay whole and so survive?" (p. 561). The Long Form keeps addressing "each A.A. group" (pp. 563–565). Tradition Two is "For our group purpose" (p. 563). Tradition Four is about each group's own affairs (p. 563). Five, Six and Seven are about what a group is for, what it may get involved in, and how it pays its way (pp. 563–564). Nine is about how groups and their service boards are organized (p. 565).
Members too, where A.A. is involved. The Long Form doesn't leave the individual out: - One starts with the member: "Each member of Alcoholics Anonymous is but a small part of a great whole" (p. 563). - Eight says counseling alcoholics for fees is professionalism, and that ordinary Twelfth Step work is never to be paid for (pp. 564–565). That's work members do. - Ten: "No A.A. group or member should ever, in such a way as to implicate A.A., express any opinion on outside controversial issues" (p. 565). - Eleven: "Our names and pictures as A.A. members ought not be broadcast, filmed, or publicly printed" (p. 565).
The line the texts draw is where A.A. is involved. Bill's 1947 essay on outside projects says members are free to work in other fields "if they act as individuals only, and are careful of the A.A. name" (P-17, "Dangers in Linking A.A. to Other Projects", 1947). In 1957 he wrote that the Traditions "ask for personal as well as group sacrifice" (A.A. Comes of Age, 1957), including never to use the A.A. name for personal power, distinction or money.
So "the Steps are for members, the Traditions are for groups" is only half right. The Traditions are about A.A.'s unity, and a member acting as an A.A., or speaking publicly as one, is inside that.
Not for anyone outside A.A.
Nothing in the Long Form governs people or organizations outside A.A. It tells A.A. groups to keep outside enterprises at a distance, and says the management of clubs and hospitals "should be the sole responsibility of those people who financially support them" (p. 564). The Long Form does say public fundraising in A.A.'s name is "highly dangerous" even when done by "other outside agencies" (p. 564), but that is A.A. stating its concern, not a rule anyone outside can be held to. A hospital, a treatment centre or an independent website isn't bound by A.A.'s Traditions; an A.A. group's relationship with it is.
Later sources, for comparison
A later pamphlet says the same thing about rules and members: "the Traditions are not rules — and they are not just for officers" (P-43, 1971). The A.A. group pamphlet (P-16, 2018) quotes the 1962 Twelve Concepts: "no penalties to be inflicted for nonconformity to A.A. principles" (P-16, 2018).
Read it yourself
- Appendix I, "The A.A. Tradition" (pp. 561–566), free from A.A.: https://www.aa.org/sites/default/files/2021-11/en_bigbook_appendicei.pdf
- Foreword to the Second Edition (pp. xv–xxi): https://www.aa.org/sites/default/files/2021-11/en_bigbook_forewordsecondedition.pdf
- P-17, A.A. Tradition — How It Developed: https://www.aa.org/aa-tradition-how-it-developed
- P-43, The Twelve Traditions Illustrated: https://www.aa.org/twelve-traditions-illustrated
- P-16, The A.A. Group: https://www.aa.org/sites/default/files/literature/p-16_0723.pdf
Sources
| Source | Pages | First published |
|---|---|---|
| Alcoholics Anonymous, Appendix I, Long Form | 561, 563–565 | 1946 |
| Alcoholics Anonymous, Foreword to the Second Edition | xix | 1955 |
| P-17, "Will A.A. Ever Have a Personal Government?"; "Dangers in Linking A.A. to Other Projects" | — | 1947 |
| P-17, Foreword | — | dated 1955 |
| A.A. Comes of Age | — | 1957 |
| P-43, The Twelve Traditions Illustrated | 1 | 1971 |
| P-16, The A.A. Group (quoting Concept XII, 1962) | 12 | 2018 printing |
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, A.A. Comes of Age, P-16 and P-43 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.