Tradition 9 · September 4

The Man Who Started It

Daily Traditions · September 4

How a group breaks it

He is right about most things. That's the problem. A group starts because one man rented the room, bought the urn, and chaired the first eleven meetings when nobody else could. Five years on there are forty people, a rotating committee on paper, and not one decision he doesn't shape. Nobody appointed him. Nobody would object — he's the reason a good number of them are sober. Bill described this drift without softening it (A.A. Comes of Age): at the start, "these first members are his hierarchy, literally." Then comes the reasoning, and it never sounds like ambition. It sounds like care. "After all, we are experienced. Besides, look at all the good we have done those drunks. They should be grateful." The group hasn't been taken over. It's been looked after so well it never learned to stand up. And the cost lands on the newest person there. Disagreeing isn't disagreeing with a position — it's disagreeing with the man who saved him, and he knows it before he opens his mouth. So he says nothing, and the room gets quieter, and the quiet gets called unity.

Sit with

Nobody voted that man in, which is exactly why nobody can vote him out. Whose approval do I check for before I say what I actually think in a room?

Grounded in: A.A. Comes of Age (the local founder and his hierarchy); long form, Tradition 9.

Tradition 9

"A.A., as such, ought never be organized; but we may create service boards or committees directly responsible to those they serve."

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 9 → Get the app →

← September 3In the Supposed Interest of Efficiency Tradition 9All of September September 5 →Which Way the Money Runs

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).