Tradition 4 · April 28

Never Acts of Government

Daily Traditions · April 28

The threat today

The Traditions bind groups by agreement, not by force, and today they are sometimes used as a rulebook to punish the very groups they protect. The Big Book's foreword says how they took hold (p. xix): "Though none of these principles had the force of rules or laws, they had become so widely accepted by 1950 that they were confirmed by our first International Conference held at Cleveland." Accepted, not imposed. When A.A. built a conference to serve the whole Fellowship, it wrote the same limit into its charter, its founding rules (A.A. Comes of Age): "though the Conference may act for the service of Alcoholics Anonymous, it shall never perform any acts of government". If the conference that speaks for all of A.A. may never govern, nothing smaller may either. The Long Form (Big Book, p. 563) leaves each group's own affairs to "no other authority than its own conscience." Today the threat comes dressed as the Traditions: a committee that drops a group from the meeting list for reading the wrong thing, a member who threatens a group with A.A. headquarters, a program that tells a group it is breaking a Tradition and must change. Persuasion is welcome. Punishment is government. Test it tonight: if anyone tells your group it will lose something for breaking a Tradition, ask who gave them the power to take it.

Sit with

The Traditions took hold because groups agreed to them, never because anyone could enforce them. Who has threatened my group in the Traditions' name?

Grounded in: Long form, Tradition 4 (Big Book, p. 563); Foreword to the Second Edition (Big Book, p. xix); A.A. Comes of Age (from the Conference Charter).

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 →

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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).