Tradition 10 · October 1

Half a Million

Daily Traditions · October 1

The threat

Half a million alcoholics found a way to get sober before A.A. existed, and then their movement died. The Washingtonian Society started in Baltimore in the 1840s, and Bill W. described its beginning in terms any A.A. member would recognize (A.A. Comes of Age): "At first the society was composed entirely of alcoholics trying to help one another." Their membership "passed the five hundred thousand mark." Then came the turn. "Instead, the Washingtonians permitted politicians and reformers, both alcoholic and nonalcoholic, to use the society for their own purposes." Abolition of slavery was the stormy question of the day, and "soon Washingtonian speakers violently and publicly took sides on this question." Bill was careful about which blow was fatal, and his care is the whole lesson. "Maybe the society could have survived the abolition controversy," he wrote — but it "did not have a chance from the moment it determined to reform all America's drinking habits." It was not the political fight that finished them. It was deciding to fix everybody's drinking. "Within a very few years they had completely lost their effectiveness in helping alcoholics, and the society collapsed."

Sit with

Half a million alcoholics had a way out, and it was gone within a few years because the movement took on causes larger than sobriety. What am I carrying that has grown bigger than the thing that actually keeps me well?

Grounded in: A.A. Comes of Age (the Washingtonian Society); long form, Tradition 10.

Tradition 10

"Alcoholics Anonymous has no opinion on outside issues; hence the A.A. name ought never be drawn into public controversy."

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 10 → Get the app →

←All of October Tradition 10All of October October 2 →As We Elect

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).