Conference of Solidarity Support Organizations


Conference of Solidarity Support Organizations was an international organization of national groups that supported the trade union Solidarnosc and human rights in Poland during the final years of the Polish People's Republic. Member organizations agreed to the CSSO Letter of Agreement (of January 8/9, 1983.

History

The CSSO emerged from a series of informal interorganizational meetings throughout 1982 among Solidarity support organizations. To provide a formal basis for cooperation, and to increase the unity of these support organizations, organizers drafted an agreement. the CSSO Letter of Agreement
To join the CSSO, organizations had to ratify the CSSO Letter. In it, groups agreed to support and recognize Solidarity in Poland, along with the Coordinating Office Abroad of NSZZ Solidarnosc. Member organizations still had the freedom to support their own initiatives in Poland and were not required to support the Brussels office, nor proscribe any other links or channels with Solidarity.
The CSSO was designed as a forum in which member organizations could exchange ideas and share experiences pertaining to protest activities in Poland. The organization held meetings in which member representatives would consider joint CSSO resolutions and actions. The CSSO did not control the activities or funds of the member organizations..
The Coordinating Committee of the CSSO and its administrators had no executive powers. They could only recommend action to the CSSO Participating Organizations; participation in any CSSO action or program was strictly voluntary. In 1988 at a Paris meeting, an initiatives to create a more formal CSSO structure was defeated.
The CSSO ultimately included 46 organizations in 13 countries. The one major amendment to the CSSO agreement was the addition of regional associations within the CSSO structure.

Achievements

The greatest impact of the CSSO was in fostering trust among the leaders of the member organizations. This did indeed foster collaboration and thus improved the efficacy of numerous initiatives and programs.
Most of the accomplishments came from the member organizations themselves. These accomplishments range from: a massive smuggling of materials to Solidarity and other groups in Poland; to the above-ground Family-to-Family assistance to the families of the imprisoned and persecuted Solidarity activists; to the Independent Polish Agency news agency providing information and photographs to the news media across the globe; to the professional periodic publications such as Kontakt, Pogląd and Meinung, Voice of Solidarity, ARKA de Informaciones, and Porando-geppo ; to political action, lobbying and raising awareness activities in every country; to assistance to the Brussels Coordinating Office and activists in their work on behalf of Solidarity; to sending financial resources to Solidarity and opposition groups in Poland.
The membership of the CSSO organizations consisted primarily of the citizens of the countries where these organizations were located and usually included members who were not of Polish heritage. David Phillips, the first CSSO Secretary, was not of Polish ancestry. In fact in some organizations, the majority were not of Polish heritage, though sometimes did include non-Poles who were nevertheless fluent in Polish – Yoshiho Umeda, and Jan Axel Stolz, who served as CSSO Secretary.

CSSO Participating Organizations (1989)

INTER-ORGANIZATIONAL MEETINGS PRIOR TO CSSO FOUNDING MEETING:
CSSO MEETINGS:
CSSO Moderator
Andre Blaszczynski
CSSO Coordinator
CSSO Secretary
CSSO North American Coordinator
Ewa Slusarek
CSSO North American Secretary
Jacek Slusarek
CSSO European Coordinator
Krzysztof Turowski
Aleksander Zajac
CSSO Asian Coordinator
:pl:Yoshiho Umeda|Yoshiho Umeda
CSSO Latin AmericanCoordinator
Olga Jarzebinska
CSSO Canadian Coordinator
Leszek Prusinski