Eisenstein's Strike (1925): Soviet Montage and Propaganda

Introduction: Strike as Soviet Propaganda

Sergei Eisenstein's 1925 motion picture Strike is meant to explore the topic of collectivism as seen in opposition to individualism. Although the film appears to be directed at presenting an international public with a fictional account, it functions primarily as a propaganda film purposed to promote the concept of communism. By focusing on an episode set in Russia before the revolution, the motion picture is intended to provide viewers with the harsh reality of capitalism and with how powerful individuals are predisposed to exploit the masses when such a political ideology dominates a country. The director provides viewers with an intellectual montage that succeeds in sending the precise messages he was interested in putting across.

Leaving viewers with the impression that they were witnessing filming techniques they had never encountered before was virtually one of Eisenstein's main intentions when creating Strike. Most sequences meant to trigger intense feelings present side-by-side scenes that are in conflict with each other. These shots are introduced during important parts of the film and are most probably intended to emphasize the gravity of the subject under discussion. Some shots are deliberately confusing, inviting viewers to intervene and interpret the message that Eisenstein wants to express.

Narrative Structure and Montage Context

Strike was released to the public in April 1925 and contained a storyline separated into six parts. The moments when the parts are divided are emphasized by introducing a fade to another setting alongside a dialogue title or descriptive intertitle. Eisenstein apparently considered the fact that many Soviet cinemas and theatres had very little equipment to work with. As a consequence, "the narrative segmentation in Strike probably corresponds to the reel divisions within release prints" (Goodwin 39).

Eisenstein's ideas were most probably unique at the time of the film's release, though he was clearly inspired by work performed by his predecessors and by the environment in which he lived, given the political tension present in the Soviet Union in the 1920s. Even so, Strike is a film that succeeds in inducing intense feelings in a range of audiences — from those who first viewed it in 1925 to contemporary viewers. The director was not satisfied with simply providing viewers with information; he wanted them to become actively involved in understanding the events unfolding before them, ultimately leaving them with the sense that it is essential to take action against those who exploit others. As scholars have noted, Eisenstein "believed that by creating visual 'jolts' between each cut, the viewer would be 'shocked' into new awareness" (Nelmes 403).

As the storyline of Strike unfolds, viewers are transported into a practically demonic filmmaking environment in which Eisenstein deploys a series of disorienting strategies, each intended to give individuals the sense that they are witnessing events from a first-person perspective. Even though Eisenstein lived in a society that tended to discriminate against and torment particular groups, his vision of communism was focused on an ideal society where people would not have to answer to unjust rulers and where each individual would be compensated fairly for the work they perform.

Intellectual Montage and the Bull Slaughter Scene

One of the most important sequences in the film comes at its conclusion — the scene in which Eisenstein juxtaposes footage of a bull being murdered and slaughtered with the violent suppression of a factory workers' strike by government authorities. This scene offers viewers one of the clearest illustrations of Eisenstein's Soviet montage theory. The director uses the bull to highlight the fact that the government and the shareholders have little to no interest in listening to the workers' grievances, viewing the workers instead as cattle to be exploited with no concern for their wellbeing. By showing workers being treated cruelly by the authorities alongside the scene of the bull being slaughtered, Eisenstein invites audiences to become actively involved in decoding the political message: that workers are nothing but animals being led through a slaughterhouse.

The film is paradoxical in the sense that Eisenstein employs intellectual montage while deliberately avoiding concepts like reason or logic as his primary communicative tools. Instead, he makes use of farce and parody in an attempt to demonstrate the absurdity of the capitalist system and its enforcers as they destroy people's lives. Eisenstein clearly loved drama, and this is evident in the numerous techniques he uses to dramatize scenes throughout the motion picture. The director appears to address viewers from a psychological standpoint — appealing to their emotions and encouraging them to believe that conditions are far worse than they might otherwise be inclined to think.

Works Cited

Goodwin, James. Eisenstein, Cinema, and History. University of Illinois Press, 1993.

Nelmes, Jill. An Introduction to Film Studies. Routledge, 2003.