[...] the windfall profits that ac­cru ed to U.S. automakers helped them underwrite a stable lab or-capital accord and mass consumption social contract that lasted for more than four decades after the CIO struggles of the 1930s. In contrast, the lower profit levels associated with the intense competitive pressures toward the end of the life cycle (and the relative national poverty of the favored new sites of production) make such social contracts increasingly difficult to sustain eco­nomically. In other words, late-developers of mass production automobile industries have experienced the social contradictions of capitalist develop­ment (including strong working classes) without the benefits that might allow them to deal with those social contradictions successfully. Elsewhere, we have labeled this phenomenon "the contradictions of semiperipheral success" (Silver 1990; see also Arrighi 1990b).