diff -r 04ff1cc40d62 Doc/library/multiprocessing.rst
--- a/Doc/library/multiprocessing.rst	Fri Oct 04 11:38:59 2013 -0400
+++ b/Doc/library/multiprocessing.rst	Sun Oct 06 23:13:08 2013 +0300
@@ -1794,7 +1794,9 @@
    *processes* is the number of worker processes to use.  If *processes* is
    ``None`` then the number returned by :func:`os.cpu_count` is used.  If
    *initializer* is not ``None`` then each worker process will call
-   ``initializer(*initargs)`` when it starts.
+   ``initializer(*initargs)`` when it starts. Values returned by the initializer
+   will be passed to the function executed within the worker as first positional
+   argument.
 
    Note that the methods of the pool object should only be called by
    the process which created the pool.
diff -r 04ff1cc40d62 Lib/multiprocessing/pool.py
--- a/Lib/multiprocessing/pool.py	Fri Oct 04 11:38:59 2013 -0400
+++ b/Lib/multiprocessing/pool.py	Sun Oct 06 23:13:08 2013 +0300
@@ -92,6 +92,7 @@
 
 def worker(inqueue, outqueue, initializer=None, initargs=(), maxtasks=None):
     assert maxtasks is None or (type(maxtasks) == int and maxtasks > 0)
+    initresults = None
     put = outqueue.put
     get = inqueue.get
     if hasattr(inqueue, '_writer'):
@@ -99,7 +100,7 @@
         outqueue._reader.close()
 
     if initializer is not None:
-        initializer(*initargs)
+        initresults = initializer(*initargs)
 
     completed = 0
     while maxtasks is None or (maxtasks and completed < maxtasks):
@@ -114,6 +115,9 @@
             break
 
         job, i, func, args, kwds = task
+        if initresults is not None:
+            args = list(args)
+            args.insert(0, initresults)
         try:
             result = (True, func(*args, **kwds))
         except Exception as e:
diff -r 04ff1cc40d62 Lib/test/_test_multiprocessing.py
--- a/Lib/test/_test_multiprocessing.py	Fri Oct 04 11:38:59 2013 -0400
+++ b/Lib/test/_test_multiprocessing.py	Sun Oct 06 23:13:08 2013 +0300
@@ -1879,6 +1879,7 @@
         for (j, res) in enumerate(results):
             self.assertEqual(res.get(), sqr(j))
 
+
 #
 # Test of creating a customized manager class
 #
@@ -3005,9 +3006,20 @@
 # Test Manager.start()/Pool.__init__() initializer feature - see issue 5585
 #
 
+
 def initializer(ns):
     ns.test += 1
 
+
+def workers_initializer(value):
+    return value
+
+
+def workers_function(initializer_retval, argument):
+    initializer_retval.append(argument)
+    return initializer_retval
+
+
 class TestInitializers(unittest.TestCase):
     def setUp(self):
         self.mgr = multiprocessing.Manager()
@@ -3033,6 +3045,20 @@
         p.join()
         self.assertEqual(self.ns.test, 1)
 
+    def test_pool_initializer_returned_values(self):
+        results = []
+        expected = []
+        p = multiprocessing.Pool(1, workers_initializer, ([], ))
+        for i in range(6):
+            results.append(p.apply_async(workers_function, (i, )))
+        p.close()
+        p.join()
+        # check the results
+        for (j, res) in enumerate(results):
+            expected.append(j)
+            self.assertEqual(res.get(), expected)
+
+
 #
 # Issue 5155, 5313, 5331: Test process in processes
 # Verifies os.close(sys.stdin.fileno) vs. sys.stdin.close() behavior