Told to go online to cover Cummings, in a state of thrall (7)
I believe the answer is:
serfdom
'thrall' is the definition.
(I know that Serfdom is a type of thrall)
'told to go online to cover cummings in a state' is the wordplay.
I cannot really understand how this works, but
'go' could be 'do' (doing is a kind of going) and 'do' is located in the answer.
'online' could be 'e' (abbreviation for electronic, e.g. in ecommerce) and 'e' is found within the answer.
This explanation may well be incorrect...
'of' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for serfdom that I've seen before include "Feudal worker's state" , "Feudal labour" , "State of slavery" .)