The General Line, also known as Old and New (Russian: Старое и новое, translit. Staroye i novoye), is a 1929 Soviet film directed by Sergei Eisenstein and Grigori Aleksandrov.The General Line was begun in 1927 as a celebration of the collectivization of agriculture, as championed by old-line Bolshevik Leon Trotsky. Hoping to reach a wide audience, the director forsook his usual practice of emphasizing groups by concentrating on a single rural heroine.