The Tucson Marxist-Leninist Collective was formed in 1975 out of a Marxist-Leninist study group that was organized in December 1974. It included members of the John Brown Party, an anti-racist collective modeled after the Black Panther Party, and a small group of students at the University of Arizona. The group soon expanded its interests and activities, organizing around labor union activity, the pro-busing movement, local housing issues, a prisoners support group, and other community challenges. They published the Theoretical Review and Red Desert Bulletin, which lasted until 1983 when both its journal and the organization dissolved.