diff --git a/Include/patchlevel.h b/Include/patchlevel.h
index bfd67a5..658f0f5 100644
--- a/Include/patchlevel.h
+++ b/Include/patchlevel.h
@@ -18,12 +18,12 @@
 /*--start constants--*/
 #define PY_MAJOR_VERSION	3
 #define PY_MINOR_VERSION	3
-#define PY_MICRO_VERSION	2
-#define PY_RELEASE_LEVEL	PY_RELEASE_LEVEL_FINAL
-#define PY_RELEASE_SERIAL	0
+#define PY_MICRO_VERSION	3
+#define PY_RELEASE_LEVEL	PY_RELEASE_LEVEL_GAMMA
+#define PY_RELEASE_SERIAL	1
 
 /* Version as a string */
-#define PY_VERSION      	"3.3.2+"
+#define PY_VERSION      	"3.3.3rc1"
 /*--end constants--*/
 
 /* Version as a single 4-byte hex number, e.g. 0x010502B2 == 1.5.2b2.
diff --git a/Lib/distutils/__init__.py b/Lib/distutils/__init__.py
index 83d7cb7..812d8f3 100644
--- a/Lib/distutils/__init__.py
+++ b/Lib/distutils/__init__.py
@@ -13,5 +13,5 @@
 # Updated automatically by the Python release process.
 #
 #--start constants--
-__version__ = "3.3.2"
+__version__ = "3.3.3rc1"
 #--end constants--
diff --git a/Lib/idlelib/idlever.py b/Lib/idlelib/idlever.py
index b7ff0f8..640e008 100644
--- a/Lib/idlelib/idlever.py
+++ b/Lib/idlelib/idlever.py
@@ -1 +1 @@
-IDLE_VERSION = "3.3.2"
+IDLE_VERSION = "3.3.3rc1"
diff --git a/Misc/RPM/python-3.3.spec b/Misc/RPM/python-3.3.spec
index a9b489b..c324559 100644
--- a/Misc/RPM/python-3.3.spec
+++ b/Misc/RPM/python-3.3.spec
@@ -39,7 +39,7 @@
 
 %define name python
 #--start constants--
-%define version 3.3.2
+%define version 3.3.3rc1
 %define libvers 3.3
 #--end constants--
 %define release 1pydotorg
diff --git a/README b/README
index 0d8dce4..12548b7 100644
--- a/README
+++ b/README
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
-This is Python version 3.3.2
-============================
+This is Python version 3.3.3 release candidate 1
+================================================
 
 Copyright (c) 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011,
 2012, 2013 Python Software Foundation.  All rights reserved.