How we cite our quotes: (Section.Paragraph)
Quote #7
What else does the history of ideas prove, than that intellectual production changes its character in proportion as material production is changed? The ruling ideas of each age have ever been the ideas of its ruling class. (Section2.58)
Marx assumes that what remains constant about humanity is that we're beings who make (homo faber), but how we make things changes throughout history. This is in contrast to the view that we're primarily beings who know (homo sapiens). As the ways we make things change, other things change as a result, like our traditions and customs of making, and even the rest of our lives, since we're defined by the stuff we make.
Quote #8
But whatever form they may have taken, one fact is common to all past ages, viz., the exploitation of one part of society by the other. No wonder, then, that the social consciousness of past ages, despite all the multiplicity and variety it displays, moves within certain common forms, or general ideas, which cannot completely vanish except with the total disappearance of class antagonisms. (Section2.64)
Karl the Kommunist is arguing that all human traditions and customs are colored by exploitation. What might traditions and customs that free us from exploitation look like?