Tradition 3 · March 11

You Can't Keep Us Out

Daily Traditions · March 11

The threat

The danger Tradition 3 answers was real: A.A. groups did try to throw alcoholics out, and failed. Bill W. admitted it (A.A. Comes of Age): "Groups have tried to expel members, but the banished have come back to sit in the meeting place". Expel means to put out for good; banished means sent away. What they said, sitting back down: "This is life for us: you can't keep us out." They were right, and Bill said why. Nothing in A.A., not its board, its conference, "nor the humblest group committee can issue a single directive to an A.A. member and make it stick". A directive is an order. The Long Form turned their stubbornness into the rule for every group (Big Book, p. 563): "Hence we may refuse none who wish to recover." The drunk is the reason the room exists, and a group that tries to bar him has forgotten what it is for. Today the expelling is done by others, and they can make it stick: a facility bars a former client from the meeting in its building, or a program discharges a man and he loses the meeting along with the bed. Test it tonight: if someone were told they could not come back to your meeting, who would have the power to say it, and would your group stand for it?

Sit with

Groups tried to expel members, and the banished came back saying it was life for them. Who could keep someone out of my meeting today?

Grounded in: A.A. Comes of Age (Unity: the Second Legacy — Tradition Nine and expulsion); long form, Tradition 3 (Big Book, p. 563).

Tradition 3

"The only requirement for A.A. membership is a desire to stop drinking."

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 3 → Get the app →

← March 10Money or Conformity Tradition 3All of March March 12 →Many Backgrounds

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).