Eisenstein wrote the film as a revolutionary propaganda, but also used it to test his idea of "montage".
This is a propaganda form within the film narrative. In this particular shot, Eisenstein's editing intends to produce the greatest emotional response, so that the viewer would feel sympathy for the rebellious sailors of the battleship Potemkin --and hatred for their cruel tzarist overlords. The clip shows the most famous scene in the film: the massacre of civilians on the Odessa Steps (also known as the Primorsky or Potemkin Stairs).