Tradition 4 · April 21

In Every Group

Daily Traditions · April 21

The threat

When A.A. grew too fast to be run by anyone, the danger was that someone would try anyway, and the answer was to let each group govern itself under shared principles. By 1941 the Big Book counts 8,000 members, and its foreword asks what everyone feared (p. xviii): "Would there be quarrels over membership, leadership, and money?" It answers on the next page (p. xix): "Soon A.A. was beset by these very problems on every side and in every group." No office could have refereed thousands of group fights by mail, and nobody had the right to. So, the foreword goes on, "we had to evolve principles by which the A.A. groups and A.A. as a whole could survive and function effectively." Notice the two levels: the groups, and A.A. as a whole. That is the shape of Tradition Four. The Long Form (Big Book, p. 563) gives each group its own affairs, "responsible to no other authority than its own conscience," and keeps for A.A. as a whole only what touches everyone. Today the fear comes back as a demand for a referee: an office, a district or a program asked to settle a group's quarrel for it. Test it tonight: when your group has a fight, ask who it expects to settle it, and whether that someone has any right to.

Sit with

A.A. met its fights in every group by letting every group govern itself. Who does my group run to when it can't agree?

Grounded in: Long form, Tradition 4 (Big Book, p. 563); Foreword to the Second Edition (Big Book, pp. xviii–xix).

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 20Run the A.A. Affairs Tradition 4All of April April 22 →Suggestive Only

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).