diff --git a/kernel/rcu/refscale.c b/kernel/rcu/refscale.c
index 4e419ca6d611..dbd670376c42 100644
--- a/kernel/rcu/refscale.c
+++ b/kernel/rcu/refscale.c
@@ -692,12 +692,11 @@ ref_scale_init(void)
 	VERBOSE_SCALEOUT("Starting %d reader threads\n", nreaders);
 
 	for (i = 0; i < nreaders; i++) {
+		init_waitqueue_head(&reader_tasks[i].wq);
 		firsterr = torture_create_kthread(ref_scale_reader, (void *)i,
 						  reader_tasks[i].task);
 		if (firsterr)
 			goto unwind;
-
-		init_waitqueue_head(&(reader_tasks[i].wq));
 	}
 
 	// Main Task