Tradition 4 · April 13

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Daily Traditions · April 13

The threat today

The last words of Tradition Four set a limit every group carries: some things belong to A.A. as a whole, and no single group or person gets to decide them. The Long Form (Big Book, p. 563): "On such issues our common welfare is paramount." Paramount means it comes above everything else, above any one group's preference. Such issues are the ones named in the sentence before it: "any action that might greatly affect A.A. as a whole". When the Traditions were first published in 1946, that sentence named the trustees of The Alcoholic Foundation; a footnote in the pamphlet (A.A. pamphlet P-17, p. 7) records that in 1954 the name was changed to the General Service Board. Same job, new name. Autonomy covers a group's own meeting. It does not cover changing what A.A. is. Today what A.A. is gets decided, in plenty of towns, by people who never asked anyone: a program prints its own version of the Steps under A.A.'s name, a facility tells a judge what counts as an A.A. meeting. A group that goes along, reading that version or signing those slips, has acted for all of A.A. without asking. Test it tonight: find one thing said about A.A. in your town that A.A. as a whole never agreed to, and ask who said it.

Sit with

Some decisions belong to A.A. as a whole, and no group, program or person gets to make them alone. What has been said about A.A. in my town that A.A. never agreed to?

Grounded in: Long form, Tradition 4 (Big Book, p. 563); P-17, p. 7 (the Twelve Points of 1946, with its footnote).

Tradition 4

"Each group should be autonomous except in matters affecting other groups or A.A. as a whole."

Read the Long Form (pp. 563–566). The short form on pp. 561–562 is the one everybody quotes — but the Long Form is where the Traditions actually say what they mean. Tradition 3's "no other affiliation" clause, for instance, exists only in the Long Form. That single clause is why no treatment centre can own an A.A. group. Most of what circulates online skips it.

And a distinction worth keeping straight: the Traditions are governance, not theology. They bind A.A. groups and the Fellowship — not individuals, and not outside businesses. They were adopted in 1950 to keep A.A. from being owned or co-opted. They are not a rulebook for your personal life.

What the Traditions actually say → The Long Form, p. 563 → Search the Big Book → Every day this month →

Ask Recovery Einstein about Tradition 4 → Get the app →

← April 12Every Group Argument Tradition 4All of April April 14 →Full of Wisdom

Daily Traditions is an independent educational resource from Recovery Starts — not official A.A. literature, not affiliated with Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, and not medical advice. The Twelve Traditions are the property of A.A. Page references are to Alcoholics Anonymous (the Big Book), 4th Edition: short form 561–562, long form 563–566. If you're in crisis, call or text 988 (Suicide & Crisis Lifeline).