when using the keyword super, and that is why the super() built-in function was eventually added to Python, so you could "do the correct thing" functionally : super « Class « Python Tutorial

1. Python Tutorial
2. Class
3. super

class P(object):
    def __init__(self):
        print "calling P's constructor"

class C(P):
        def __init__(self):
            super(C, self).__init__()
            print "calling C's constructor"