Covered by revolutionary, story in retrospect told (7)
I believe the answer is:
related
'told' is the definition.
(relating is a kind of telling)
'covered by revolutionary story in retrospect' is the wordplay.
'covered by' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'revolutionary' becomes 'red'.
'story' becomes 'tale' (synonyms).
'in retrospect' is a reversal indicator.
'tale' backwards is 'elat'.
'red' enclosing 'elat' is 'RELATED'.
(Other definitions for related that I've seen before include "As siblings obviously are" , "Having family links" , "Connected, by kinship say" , "Family members must be" , "Like family members" .)