New Democrats have long been frustrated by the labor movement's reluctance or inability to come to grips with the challenges of the New Economy. Indeed, the policy of resistance preferred by many in "the house of labor" is arguably the biggest source of friction between these two powerful blocs within the Democratic Party.

But with little fanfare last October, a group of American social democrats launched an interactive web site and e-mail mailing list aimed at fostering robust dialogue both within and outside of labor about the New Economy's impact on topics such as workplace issues, family life, and communities. That's a discussion New Democrats have been waiting for and should welcome.

The New Economy Information Service (www.newecon.org) is a nonprofit project with ties to Social Democrats, USA , the successor to the Socialist Party cofounded by Eugene V. Debs. NEIS aims to build a politically diverse information-sharing, analysis, and discussion network focused on the New Economy, globalization, and Third Way politics. Through conferences and its web site, NEIS hopes to open channels of communication about the New Economy among union supporters and academics, politi- cians, and business executives.

"Some of these conversations have been taking place here and there within the labor movement, but there hasn't been a consistent, regular, thematic approach about these kinds of questions," noted Joel Freedman, a policy assistant to the president of the Bricklayers union. "NEIS lays out a framework for this discussion."

Social Democrats, USA, was active in the civil rights movement and later worked with the AFL-CIO to promote democracy and free trade unions in communist Poland. Its history as an intellectual hot-house within labor makes it ideally suited to draw members of the broader labor movement into conversations about the New Economy.

"New Economy issues need to be considered in fresh ways, free of ideological blinders and old right-left divisions," says David Jessup, the president of Social Democrats, USA and exective director of NEIS. "To do this, we hope to bring together people who do not normally talk to each other but who are willing to seriously explore alternative approaches on economic, education, and labor problems."

NEIS recently sponsored a conference in Washington,"A Day of Dialogue: American Labor and the New Economy," that drew speakers from across the political spectrum. Participants included Elliott Abrams, a deputy secretary of state during the Reagan administration, Communications Workers of America President Morton Bahr, and Thea Lee, the AFL-CIO's assistant director of public policy.

Meanwhile, the New Economy Unionism page on NEIS's web site invites labor backers and others to post their own answers to such questions as: "How do workers survive and prosper in a New Economy characterized by job instability, rapidly changing skill requirements, labor cost competition, and work-family pressures? Are trade unions redesigning their programs, contracts, and organizing efforts to meet these needs?" A page on Third Way politics asks: "Is a new public philosophy needed? Judging by the emergence of a mini-growth industry to define a 'Third Way,' the answer would seem to be yes."

A web page and a conference series, of course, do not add up to a philosophical revolution. Still, New Democrats should be heartened by the opening of this window in the house of labor.