The party's founding convention declared that "the ultimate object of attainment shall be to preserve to the worker the full product of his toil".
The ambiguity of this statement was criticized by the more radical Socialist Party of Canada (SPC), which called for collective ownership in industry.
Dixon was a moderate reformer, and campaigned in an unofficial alliance with the Manitoba Liberal Party.
Dixon lost to the Conservative Party incumbent, Thomas Taylor, by seventy-three votes.
The SPC was widely blamed for Dixon's loss, and became marginalized in Winnipeg's labour community for the next eight years.