SOCIAL-DEMOCRACY GOING DOWN OR DOWN-UNDER - INSTITUTIONS, INTERNATIONALIZED CAPITAL, AND INDEBTED STATES

Internationalization of goods producing capital and rising public debt have undermined the institutional preconditions-a unified labor movem ent, corporatism, and a universal welfare state-for the class compromi ses of European-style social democracy. Australia's labor movement has faced these problems longer and has developed institutions in respons e to them. High minimum, juridically set wages help overcome tensions between unions while protecting the wage share of national income, and the largely privatized and residual welfare system is resilient in th e face of public debt. Australia's experience suggests that Fritz Scha rpf's call for ''socialism within one class'' is a plausible response to internationalization and debt.