[ noun ] (Middle Ages) a person who is bound to the land and owned by the feudal lord <noun.person>
Helot \He"lot\ (?; 277), n. [L. Helotes, Hilotae, pl., fr. Gr. E'e`lws and E'elw`ths a bondman or serf of the Spartans; so named from 'Elos, a town of Laconia, whose inhabitants were enslaved; or perh. akin to e`lei^n to take, conquer, used as 2d aor. of ?.] A slave in ancient Sparta; a Spartan serf; hence, a slave or serf.
Those unfortunates, the Helots of mankind, more or less numerous in every community. --I. Taylor.
With or without Japan, a helot Western Europe would be the inevitable milch-cow of Soviet economic recovery.