diff --git a/Objects/unicodeobject.c b/Objects/unicodeobject.c
index 1967385..47f4eb7 100644
--- a/Objects/unicodeobject.c
+++ b/Objects/unicodeobject.c
@@ -101,8 +101,8 @@ extern "C" {
 static PyObject *interned;
 
 /* Free list for Unicode objects */
-static PyUnicodeObject *free_list;
-static int numfree;
+static PyUnicodeObject *free_list = NULL;
+static int numfree = 0;
 
 /* The empty Unicode object is shared to improve performance. */
 static PyUnicodeObject *unicode_empty;
@@ -10015,8 +10015,6 @@ void _PyUnicode_Init(void)
     };
 
     /* Init the implementation */
-    free_list = NULL;
-    numfree = 0;
     unicode_empty = _PyUnicode_New(0);
     if (!unicode_empty)
         return;