This will force the definition of a class attribute and will throw an error if not defined in Python.

force_attribute_definition.py

"""
This program is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or
(at your option) any later version.

This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
GNU General Public License for more details.
You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
along with this program.  If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
"""

class ForceRequiredAttributeDefinitionMeta(type):
    def __call__(cls, *args, **kwargs):
        class_object = type.__call__(cls, *args, **kwargs)
        class_object.check_required_attributes()
        return class_object

# Python 2  
class ForceRequiredAttributeDefinition(object):
    __metaclass__ = ForceRequiredAttributeDefinitionMeta
    starting_day_of_week = None

    def check_required_attributes(self):
        if self.starting_day_of_week is None:
            raise NotImplementedError('Subclass must define self.starting_day_of_week attribute. \n This attribute should define the first day of the week.')

# Python 3            
class ForceRequiredAttributeDefinition(metaclass=ForceRequiredAttributeDefinitionMeta):
    starting_day_of_week = None

    def check_required_attributes(self):
        if self.starting_day_of_week is None:
            raise NotImplementedError('Subclass must define self.starting_day_of_week attribute. \n This attribute should define the first day of the week.')

class ConcereteValidExample(ForceRequiredAttributeDefinition):
    def __init__(self):
        self.starting_day_of_week = "Monday"


class ConcereteInvalidExample(ForceRequiredAttributeDefinition):
    def __init__(self):
        # This will throw an error because self.starting_day_of_week is not defined.
        pass

      
ConcereteValidExample()    # Working example
ConcereteInvalidExample()  # This will throw an NotImplementedError straightaway