Tradition 6 · June 27

Even Sober Drunks

Daily Traditions · June 27

Before the Tradition

Authority in A.A. grew wherever property did, and the first clubs found that out before any Tradition was written. Bill W. remembered those years with affection and honesty (A.A. pamphlet P-17, p. 18): "Growth brought headaches; growing pains, we call them now. How serious they seemed then!" A building needs someone to hold the keys, collect the rent and make the rules. Some ran the place like dictators. Drunks fell on the floor or broke up meetings. Steering committees, small groups set up to run things, tried to name their own friends to follow them, and found "to their dismay that even sober drunks couldn't be" steered. Nobody in A.A. has the power to govern anyone, and the property kept tempting people to try. What they worked out was to take the building's business away from the groups, so that whoever wanted the club could run it and the groups could stay what they were. The Long Form set that down in 1946 for every club and hospital: managed apart, by those who pay for it. Today the same pull works wherever one person holds the keys, the bank account or the meeting list, and the group starts asking his permission. Test it tonight: ask who holds the keys and the bank card for your meeting, and how the group would take them back.

Sit with

Wherever the early members held property, somebody started trying to steer the rest. Who holds the keys to my group's room, and does the group still decide?

Grounded in: P-17, p. 18 (Bill W. on clubs, 1947); long form, Tradition 6 (Big Book, p. 564).

Tradition 6

"An A.A. group ought never endorse, finance or lend the A.A. name to any related facility or outside enterprise, lest problems of money, property and prestige divert us from our primary purpose."

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 6 → 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).