The pyramids were not built by slaves, but by hired workers. The workforce generally consisted of farmers during Inundation periods when their farmland was underwater.

Edit: I swear I wasn't trying to be pedantic Internet one-up guy. It really was meant in an "Oh hey, that's a very common misconception but the real story is actually more interesting" way, sorry :/

I know they weren't technically slaves, but it's not like they really needed those when the Pharaoh could basically invoke anyone in Egypt to work on his Pyramid.

They figures on top of the workers look like they have a whip in their hand. May be part of an employee motivational program give the employee's a little whip for encouragement.

Do we know how much power the Pharaoh had in practice? How absolute was their rule?

There were effectively living gods. Combing that with any sort of power would mean the peasants probably did whatever they were "asked".

I'm not sure what they were allowed to ask in practice. The Chinese Emperors were effectively some kind of living god as well (as where the Japanese Emperors). In practice, their power was limited.

Also, before the industrial revolution (or perhaps the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_Revolution) states didn't actually have that much influence on the daily lives of people.

No need for the edit. Disregard early downvotes.