ABSTRACT
The seminal idea of the 'Founding Father of Capitalism', Adam Smith, was that labour is only a commodity, like any other, and should be treated as such. Adam Smith sees flexibility as reconciling the interests of the three interested parties of the national economy: employers and employees, of course, with the customer benefiting from this mutually-advantageous arrangement between 'master and servant'. In the British Press, there was a ritualistic denunciation of 'restrictive practices' - foremost among them 'the closed shop' or 'jobs-for-life' in the 'feather-bedded' nationalised industries. By the end of the 19th century, the principle that 'restrictive practices', 'protection', etc. were ultimately 'bad for the working man' was vigorously fought by the emerging Labour movement. Nicholas Parsons concludes an article on labour market reform with the opinion that: There has certainly been change over the period from 1979-97, but there has been no Thatcherite revolution.
