Editing Denis Healey (section)

===Early career===
Healey joined the Labour Party. Still in uniform, he gave a strongly left-wing speech to the Labour Party conference in 1945, declaring, "the upper classes in every country are selfish, depraved, dissolute and decadent"<ref>M. Andrews. 'Life in the shadow of Victory' in History Mag (BBC), January 2015, pp. 31–32.</ref> shortly before the [[1945 United Kingdom general election|general election]] in which he narrowly failed to win the [[Conservative Party (UK)|Conservative]]-held seat of [[Pudsey and Otley]], doubling the Labour vote but losing by 1,651 votes.<ref>{{cite book |last=Craig |first=F. W. S. |author-link= F. W. S. Craig |title=British parliamentary election results 1918–1949 |orig-year=1969 |edition= 3rd |year=1983 |publisher= Parliamentary Research Services |location=Chichester |isbn= 978-0-900178-06-1}}</ref>

He became secretary of the international department of the Labour Party in 1945, becoming a foreign policy adviser to Labour leaders and establishing contacts with socialists across Europe.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Thorpe |first=Andrew |url=http://link.springer.com/10.1007/978-1-349-25305-0 |title=A History of the British Labour Party |date=1997 |publisher=Macmillan Education UK |isbn=978-0-333-56081-5 |location=London |pages=106 |language=en |doi=10.1007/978-1-349-25305-0 |ref=None}}</ref> He was a strong opponent of the [[Communist Party of Great Britain]] at home and the [[Soviet Union]] internationally.<ref>Lawrence Black, "'The Bitterest Enemies of Communism': Labour Revisionists, Atlanticism and the Cold War." ''Contemporary British History'' 15#3 (2001): 26–62.</ref> From 1948 to 1960 he was a councillor for the [[Royal Institute of International Affairs]] and the [[International Institute for Strategic Studies]] from 1958 until 1961. He was a member of the [[Fabian Society]] executive from 1954 until 1961. Healey used his position as the Labour Party's International Secretary to promote the [[Korean War]] on behalf of British state propagandists,<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{Cite book|last=Jenks|first=John|title=British Propaganda and News Media in the Cold War|publisher=Edinburgh|year=2006|isbn=|location=Edinburgh|page=105}}</ref> used [[British intelligence agencies]] to attack Marxist leaders within [[Trade unions in the United Kingdom|UK trade unions]],<ref>{{Cite book|last1=Lashmar|first1=Paul|title=Britain's Secret Propaganda War 1948–1977|last2=Oliver|first2=James|publisher=Sutton Publishing|year=1988|isbn=|pages=86}}</ref> and to exploit his position in government to publish his books through IRD propaganda fronts.<ref>{{Cite book|last1=Lashmar|first1=Paul|title=Britain's Secret Propaganda War 1948–1977|last2=Oliver|first2=James|publisher=Sutton Publishing|year=1988|isbn=|location=Sutton Mill|pages=100}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Jenks|first=John|title=British Propaganda and News Media in the Cold War|publisher=Edinburgh University Press|year=200|isbn=|location=Edinburgh|pages=70–71}}</ref>

Healey was one of the leading players in the Königswinter conference that was organised by [[Lilo Milchsack]]  that was credited with helping to heal the bad memories after the end of the Second World War. Healey met [[Hans von Herwarth]], the ex soldier [[Fridolin von Senger und Etterlin]] and future German President [[Richard von Weizsäcker]] and other leading [[West German]] decision makers. The conference also included other leading British thinkers like [[Richard Crossman]] and the journalist [[Robin Day]].<ref>[http://archive.spectator.co.uk/article/15th-august-1992/41/long-life Long Life: Presiding Genius], [[Nigel Nicolson]], 15 August 1992, ''The Spectator'', Retrieved 28 November 2015 ]</ref>