diff --git a/Lib/formatter.py b/Lib/formatter.py
index 47e2e659622..0607526404c 100644
--- a/Lib/formatter.py
+++ b/Lib/formatter.py
@@ -301,9 +301,6 @@ class NullWriter:
 
 class AbstractWriter(NullWriter):
 
-    def __init__(self):
-        pass
-
     def new_alignment(self, align):
         print "new_alignment(%s)" % `align`