Johan Strand Johansen

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Johan Strand Johansen (1903-1970) was Norwegian Minister of Labour in 1945. From 1945-1949 he represented Norges Kommunistiske Parti in the Storting.

Strand Johansen, who was the main organizer of NKP's election campaign in 1949, was central also in the internal conflict that ensued and headed the faction that opposed Peder Furubotn.

In the book Fiendebilde Wollweber (Enemy picture Wollweber) by Norwegian historian Lars Borgersrud, Strand Johansen is portrayed as an aggressive opponent of the Furubotn faction: on October 26 1949 Strand Johansen together with 5 or more people showed up in the partiy offices in Klingenberggata 4 and threw out Furubotn's supporters. Six days prior he had instigated the move against Furubotn at a meeting of trustees of the Oslo party, voicing fierce accusations of factionalism and of having set up an illegitimate party leadership – "the second center". In the following days the attacks continued in other party meetings, and on October 25 the central board decided to investigate the accusations and present them to the leadership of Cominform. In the meantime all individuals that had been accused by Strand Johansen would resign from their positions and a new central board was to be constituted. After the removal of Furubotn's people on October 26, assisted by among others Asbjørn Sunde and Ragnar "Pelle" Sollie, Strand Johansen saw to it that Furubotn was excluded by the newly constituted central board which contained no supporters of Furubotn. 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. In 1953 it was even suggested that Johansen should be sent off, either to the countryside or «exported» to the USSR. Asbjørn Sunde even suggested that Johansen be assassinated but received no support for such a drastic measure.^[1]