As in a free labor system and unlike slavery, the overlords had no responsibility for the serf’s maintenance and no direct interest in his or her survival as an expensive piece of property. The serfs had to support themselves. Yet as in a slave system, they were bound to their masters, guaranteeing a fixed and permanent workforce that could neither organize nor strike nor freely depart as might laborers in a market context. The overlords had the best of both worlds.

在一个自由的劳工系统里，与奴隶制不同，领主们对农奴们的维护不负责任，也不会把农奴作为一个昂贵的财产而对他或她的生存产生直接的兴趣。农奴们必须自己养活自己。而在奴隶制下，农奴们被束缚于他们的领主，保证了一个稳定而永久的劳动力。他们既不能组织起来，也不能罢工，也不能如市场经济下的劳动力一样自由离开。(西藏的)领主们把两种制度下最好的部分都占全了。

没看原文，但我认为红字的农奴应与蓝字的农奴不同，后者既是农奴，而前者应译为农民或农工