Based on a book by John Reed, October recounts the events of the Russian Revolution of 1917 and features some of Eisenstein's most creative displays of montage, as well as magnificent set pieces and rare footage of historic sites. Though the film was commissioned by the Soviet government to celebrate the ten-year anniversary of the revolution, the strict preservation of the party line eventually over-ruled historical accuracy. Because Leon Trotsky was considered an enemy of the state by the late 1920s, Eisenstein was forced to re-edit the film in order to remove the segments that positively portrayed Trotsky's role in the revolution.