This article offers a comparative analysis of the ways in which key events of the Russian Revolution have been depicted in both Russian and Australian school textbooks. How do different historians, from diverse ideological backgrounds, depict the same events? These different interpretations reflect the way in which meaning is created in history. This article uses discourse analysis. This theoretical paradigm is particularly relevant when one needs to focus on the use of language, ideology and power, in order to subject historical narratives to critical analysis. In dealing with the relationship between politics, history education and national identity this article addresses global dimensions in analysing historical narratives. Although the October Revolution of 1917 played a significant part in the nation-building process in the USSR, as demonstrated by Soviet school textbooks, its political significance was minimized in the first-generation post-Soviet history textbooks after 1992. However, current prescribed Russian history textbooks for senior secondary students, which are approved by the Ministry of Education and Science, now regard the Russian Revolution as a significant part of a foundation narrative, representing a re-invented new metanarrative. The article analyses both Western and Russian history researchers commenting on different historical narratives depicting Russian revolution in school textbooks.