VIENNA — The centenary of the Russian Revolution has inspired dozens of exhibitions of the art and history of the abbreviated Soviet century, from “Revolution: Russian Art 1917—1932,” at London’s Royal Academy, to the Art Institute of Chicago’s “Revoliutsiia! Demonstratsiia!”, not to mention significant shows in Moscow and St. Petersburg. Curators and historians have been grappling once again with the meaning of the 10 days that shook the world: Was it a brilliant dream? A doomed illusion?

Now comes another question: Was it good for the Jews?

Step into the Jewish Museum Vienna, just off the main shopping drag of this imperial city, and you will be greeted by a bust of Karl Marx, the descendant of rabbis who would call religion the “opiate of the masses.” Dour, wild-haired Karl presides over the first gallery of an ambitious, searching show on religion and revolution, uniting paintings, posters, propaganda, film clips, and a fair amount of Soviet kitsch. Its romantic title — “Comrade. Jew. We Only Wanted Paradise on Earth” — sets the tone for an extensive overview of the dreams and nightmares of communism and international socialism, as seen through the lives and work of Jewish politicians, philosophers and artists: not just Marx, but also Leon Trotsky, Rosa Luxemburg, El Lissitzky, and many others.