diff --git a/Modules/_ssl.c b/Modules/_ssl.c
index 650f030345f..7670833bf5f 100644
--- a/Modules/_ssl.c
+++ b/Modules/_ssl.c
@@ -882,7 +882,6 @@ newPySSLSocket(PySSLContext *sslctx, PySocketSockObject *sock,
 {
     PySSLSocket *self;
     SSL_CTX *ctx = sslctx->ctx;
-    long mode;
 
     self = PyObject_New(PySSLSocket, &PySSLSocket_Type);
     if (self == NULL)