Old land workers re-established hostel (6)
I believe the answer is:
helots
'old land workers' is the definition.
(helots were slaves in Sparta)
're-established hostel' is the wordplay.
're-established' indicates anagramming the letters.
'hostel' with letters rearranged gives 'HELOTS'.
(Other definitions for helots that I've seen before include "Ancient Spartans, in hotels?" , "They worked like slaves" , "Slave labour" , "Serfs" .)