diff --git a/common/lib/xmodule/xmodule/modulestore/mongo/base.py b/common/lib/xmodule/xmodule/modulestore/mongo/base.py
index b2f38c48a6..f56393d75e 100644
--- a/common/lib/xmodule/xmodule/modulestore/mongo/base.py
+++ b/common/lib/xmodule/xmodule/modulestore/mongo/base.py
@@ -256,7 +256,7 @@ class MongoModuleStore(ModuleStoreBase):
                  user=None, password=None, request_cache=None,
                  metadata_inheritance_cache_subsystem=None, **kwargs):
 
-        ModuleStoreBase.__init__(self)
+        super(MongoModuleStore, self).__init__()
 
         self.collection = pymongo.connection.Connection(
             host=host,
diff --git a/common/lib/xmodule/xmodule/modulestore/xml.py b/common/lib/xmodule/xmodule/modulestore/xml.py
index ef5fa617de..26c8b9bfca 100644
--- a/common/lib/xmodule/xmodule/modulestore/xml.py
+++ b/common/lib/xmodule/xmodule/modulestore/xml.py
@@ -265,7 +265,7 @@ class XMLModuleStore(ModuleStoreBase):
         course_dirs: If specified, the list of course_dirs to load. Otherwise,
             load all course dirs
         """
-        ModuleStoreBase.__init__(self)
+        super(XMLModuleStore, self).__init__()
 
         self.data_dir = path(data_dir)
         self.modules = defaultdict(dict)  # course_id -> dict(location -> XModuleDescriptor)
diff --git a/scripts/run_watch_data.py b/scripts/run_watch_data.py
index ff653cfa37..6431c4bd70 100755
--- a/scripts/run_watch_data.py
+++ b/scripts/run_watch_data.py
@@ -25,7 +25,7 @@ WATCH_DIRS = [os.path.abspath(os.path.normpath(dir)) for dir in WATCH_DIRS]
 class DjangoEventHandler(FileSystemEventHandler):
 
     def __init__(self, process):
-        FileSystemEventHandler.__init__(self)
+        super(DjangoEventHandler, self).__init__()
 
         self.process = process