In 1924 he became a journalist in the party daily newspaper Ny Tid in Trondheim, and starting that same year and until 1928 he was the secretary for the Young Communist League.
The conflict climaxed on 26 October 1949, when Strand Johansen together with five or more people showed up in the party offices in Klingenberggata 4 and kicked out Furubotn's supporters.
In the following days the attacks continued during other party meetings, and on 25 October the central board decided to investigate the accusations and present them to the leadership of Cominform.
Both during this commotion and during the next parliamentary campaign in 1953 witnesses described Johansen as mentally disturbed, initially as a natural reaction of disappointment at the obliteration of the communist representation in the parliament.
[1] Hans I. Kleven who himself was excluded from the party in the purge but was later invited back and went on to become its leader in the 1980s, has characterized Strand Johansen as a "sick, yes, a hysterical person," attributing these traits to the concentration camp period.