diff --git a/docs/news.rst b/docs/news.rst
index 64fd69fab..f4217713b 100644
--- a/docs/news.rst
+++ b/docs/news.rst
@@ -43,6 +43,7 @@ Scrapy changes:
 - DBM is now the default storage backend for HTTP cache middleware
 - number of log messages (per level) are now tracked through Scrapy stats (stat name: ``log_count/LEVEL``)
 - number received responses are now tracked through Scrapy stats (stat name: ``response_received_count``)
+- removed ``scrapy.log.started`` attribute
 
 Scrapyd changes:
 
diff --git a/docs/topics/logging.rst b/docs/topics/logging.rst
index 2b99ef4d4..63537e494 100644
--- a/docs/topics/logging.rst
+++ b/docs/topics/logging.rst
@@ -53,10 +53,6 @@ scrapy.log module
 .. module:: scrapy.log
    :synopsis: Logging facility
 
-.. attribute:: started
-
-   A boolean which is ``True`` if logging has been started or ``False`` otherwise.
-
 .. function:: start(logfile=None, loglevel=None, logstdout=None)
 
     Start the logging facility. This must be called before actually logging any
diff --git a/scrapy/command.py b/scrapy/command.py
index 629d9bd69..872e59a5a 100644
--- a/scrapy/command.py
+++ b/scrapy/command.py
@@ -20,6 +20,7 @@ class ScrapyCommand(object):
 
     def __init__(self):
         self.settings = None # set in scrapy.cmdline
+        self.configured = False
 
     def set_crawler(self, crawler):
         assert not hasattr(self, '_crawler'), "crawler already set"
@@ -27,9 +28,10 @@ class ScrapyCommand(object):
 
     @property
     def crawler(self):
-        if not log.started:
+        if not self.configured:
             log.start_from_crawler(self._crawler)
-        self._crawler.configure()
+            self._crawler.configure()
+            self.configured = True
         return self._crawler
 
     def syntax(self):
diff --git a/scrapy/log.py b/scrapy/log.py
index 53cb56965..be2c1fd90 100644
--- a/scrapy/log.py
+++ b/scrapy/log.py
@@ -29,8 +29,6 @@ level_names = {
     SILENT: "SILENT",
 }
 
-started = False
-
 class ScrapyFileLogObserver(log.FileLogObserver):
 
     def __init__(self, f, level=INFO, encoding='utf-8', crawler=None):
@@ -113,15 +111,14 @@ def _get_log_level(level_name_or_id):
         raise ValueError("Unknown log level: %r" % level_name_or_id)
 
 def start(logfile=None, loglevel='INFO', logstdout=True, logencoding='utf-8', crawler=None):
-    if log.defaultObserver: # check twisted log not already started
-        loglevel = _get_log_level(loglevel)
-        file = open(logfile, 'a') if logfile else sys.stderr
-        sflo = ScrapyFileLogObserver(file, loglevel, logencoding, crawler)
-        _oldshowwarning = warnings.showwarning
-        log.startLoggingWithObserver(sflo.emit, setStdout=logstdout)
-        # restore warnings, wrongly silenced by Twisted
-        warnings.showwarning = _oldshowwarning
-        return sflo
+    loglevel = _get_log_level(loglevel)
+    file = open(logfile, 'a') if logfile else sys.stderr
+    sflo = ScrapyFileLogObserver(file, loglevel, logencoding, crawler)
+    _oldshowwarning = warnings.showwarning
+    log.startLoggingWithObserver(sflo.emit, setStdout=logstdout)
+    # restore warnings, wrongly silenced by Twisted
+    warnings.showwarning = _oldshowwarning
+    return sflo
 
 def msg(message=None, _level=INFO, **kw):
     kw['logLevel'] = kw.pop('level', _level)
@@ -137,11 +134,9 @@ def err(_stuff=None, _why=None, **kw):
     log.err(_stuff, _why, **kw)
 
 def start_from_crawler(crawler):
-    global started
     settings = crawler.settings
-    if started or not settings.getbool('LOG_ENABLED'):
+    if not settings.getbool('LOG_ENABLED'):
         return
-    started = True
 
     start(settings['LOG_FILE'], settings['LOG_LEVEL'], settings['LOG_STDOUT'],
         settings['LOG_ENCODING'], crawler)