Corvée is a form of unpaid forced labour that is intermittent in nature, lasting for limited periods of time, typically only a certain number of days' work each year. Statute labour is a corvée imposed by a state for the purposes of public works. As such it represents a form of levy (taxation). Unlike other forms of levy, such as a tithe, a corvée does not require the population to have land, crops or cash.
14th-century serfs in England, working under the supervision of the lord's reeve at harvest time
Peasants seized for non-payment of taxes during the Old Kingdom of Egypt
Paul I's edict, the manifesto of three-day corvee
Clay bowl, c. 1000 BC, one day corvée ration(?). Marlik, Iran
Forced labour, or unfree labour, is any work relation, especially in modern or early modern history, in which people are employed against their will with the threat of destitution, detention, or violence, including death or other forms of extreme hardship to either themselves or members of their families.
Clergy on forced labour, by Ivan Vladimirov (Soviet Russia, 1919)
Convict labourers in Australia in the early 19th century
Illustration of Native woman panning for gold
Jewish forced labourers during the Holocaust in Mogilev, Russia, July 1941.
