diff --git a/Lib/compiler/pycodegen.py b/Lib/compiler/pycodegen.py
index 325ca06..55d2617 100644
--- a/Lib/compiler/pycodegen.py
+++ b/Lib/compiler/pycodegen.py
@@ -227,7 +227,7 @@
             assert getattr(self, 'NameFinder')
             assert getattr(self, 'FunctionGen')
             assert getattr(self, 'ClassGen')
-        except AssertionError, msg:
+        except AssertionError as msg:
             intro = "Bad class construction for %s" % self.__class__.__name__
             raise AssertionError, intro