diff --git a/stdlib/Distributed/src/cluster.jl b/stdlib/Distributed/src/cluster.jl
index ebe4cac0f3bbe..591ce3f850551 100644
--- a/stdlib/Distributed/src/cluster.jl
+++ b/stdlib/Distributed/src/cluster.jl
@@ -95,13 +95,14 @@ end
 @enum WorkerState W_CREATED W_CONNECTED W_TERMINATING W_TERMINATED
 mutable struct Worker
     id::Int
+    msg_lock::Threads.ReentrantLock # Lock for del_msgs, add_msgs, and gcflag
     del_msgs::Array{Any,1}
     add_msgs::Array{Any,1}
     gcflag::Bool
     state::WorkerState
-    c_state::Condition      # wait for state changes
-    ct_time::Float64        # creation time
-    conn_func::Any          # used to setup connections lazily
+    c_state::Threads.Condition # wait for state changes, lock for state
+    ct_time::Float64           # creation time
+    conn_func::Any             # used to setup connections lazily
 
     r_stream::IO
     w_stream::IO
@@ -133,7 +134,7 @@ mutable struct Worker
         if haskey(map_pid_wrkr, id)
             return map_pid_wrkr[id]
         end
-        w=new(id, [], [], false, W_CREATED, Condition(), time(), conn_func)
+        w=new(id, Threads.ReentrantLock(), [], [], false, W_CREATED, Threads.Condition(), time(), conn_func)
         w.initialized = Event()
         register_worker(w)
         w
@@ -143,12 +144,16 @@ mutable struct Worker
 end
 
 function set_worker_state(w, state)
-    w.state = state
-    notify(w.c_state; all=true)
+    lock(w.c_state) do
+        w.state = state
+        notify(w.c_state; all=true)
+    end
 end
 
 function check_worker_state(w::Worker)
+    lock(w.c_state)
     if w.state === W_CREATED
+        unlock(w.c_state)
         if !isclusterlazy()
             if PGRP.topology === :all_to_all
                 # Since higher pids connect with lower pids, the remote worker
@@ -168,6 +173,8 @@ function check_worker_state(w::Worker)
             errormonitor(t)
             wait_for_conn(w)
         end
+    else
+        unlock(w.c_state)
     end
 end
 
@@ -186,13 +193,25 @@ function exec_conn_func(w::Worker)
 end
 
 function wait_for_conn(w)
+    lock(w.c_state)
     if w.state === W_CREATED
+        unlock(w.c_state)
         timeout =  worker_timeout() - (time() - w.ct_time)
         timeout <= 0 && error("peer $(w.id) has not connected to $(myid())")
 
-        @async (sleep(timeout); notify(w.c_state; all=true))
-        wait(w.c_state)
-        w.state === W_CREATED && error("peer $(w.id) didn't connect to $(myid()) within $timeout seconds")
+        T = Threads.@spawn begin
+            sleep($timeout)
+            lock(w.c_state) do
+                notify(w.c_state; all=true)
+            end
+        end
+        errormonitor(T)
+        lock(w.c_state) do
+            wait(w.c_state)
+            w.state === W_CREATED && error("peer $(w.id) didn't connect to $(myid()) within $timeout seconds")
+        end
+    else
+        unlock(w.c_state)
     end
     nothing
 end
@@ -471,6 +490,10 @@ function addprocs_locked(manager::ClusterManager; kwargs...)
     # The `launch` method should add an object of type WorkerConfig for every
     # worker launched. It provides information required on how to connect
     # to it.
+
+    # FIXME: launched should be a Channel, launch_ntfy should be a Threads.Condition
+    # but both are part of the public interface. This means we currently can't use
+    # `Threads.@spawn` in the code below.
     launched = WorkerConfig[]
     launch_ntfy = Condition()
 
@@ -483,7 +506,10 @@ function addprocs_locked(manager::ClusterManager; kwargs...)
         while true
             if isempty(launched)
                 istaskdone(t_launch) && break
-                @async (sleep(1); notify(launch_ntfy))
+                @async begin
+                    sleep(1)
+                    notify(launch_ntfy)
+                end
                 wait(launch_ntfy)
             end
 
@@ -636,7 +662,12 @@ function create_worker(manager, wconfig)
         # require the value of config.connect_at which is set only upon connection completion
         for jw in PGRP.workers
             if (jw.id != 1) && (jw.id < w.id)
-                (jw.state === W_CREATED) && wait(jw.c_state)
+                # wait for wl to join
+                lock(jw.c_state) do
+                    if jw.state === W_CREATED
+                        wait(jw.c_state)
+                    end
+                end
                 push!(join_list, jw)
             end
         end
@@ -659,7 +690,12 @@ function create_worker(manager, wconfig)
         end
 
         for wl in wlist
-            (wl.state === W_CREATED) && wait(wl.c_state)
+            if wl.state === W_CREATED
+                # wait for wl to join
+                lock(wl.c_state) do
+                   wait(wl.c_state)
+                end
+            end
             push!(join_list, wl)
         end
     end
@@ -676,7 +712,11 @@ function create_worker(manager, wconfig)
     @async manage(w.manager, w.id, w.config, :register)
     # wait for rr_ntfy_join with timeout
     timedout = false
-    @async (sleep($timeout); timedout = true; put!(rr_ntfy_join, 1))
+    @async begin
+        sleep($timeout)
+        timedout = true
+        put!(rr_ntfy_join, 1)
+    end
     wait(rr_ntfy_join)
     if timedout
         error("worker did not connect within $timeout seconds")
diff --git a/stdlib/Distributed/src/macros.jl b/stdlib/Distributed/src/macros.jl
index 6603d627c3409..24a24f4c08ed4 100644
--- a/stdlib/Distributed/src/macros.jl
+++ b/stdlib/Distributed/src/macros.jl
@@ -1,14 +1,10 @@
 # This file is a part of Julia. License is MIT: https://julialang.org/license
 
-let nextidx = 0
+let nextidx = Threads.Atomic{Int}(0)
     global nextproc
     function nextproc()
-        p = -1
-        if p == -1
-            p = workers()[(nextidx % nworkers()) + 1]
-            nextidx += 1
-        end
-        p
+        idx = Threads.atomic_add!(nextidx, 1)
+        return workers()[(idx % nworkers()) + 1]
     end
 end
 
diff --git a/stdlib/Distributed/src/managers.jl b/stdlib/Distributed/src/managers.jl
index 08686fc2a0b87..5b4f016c63a78 100644
--- a/stdlib/Distributed/src/managers.jl
+++ b/stdlib/Distributed/src/managers.jl
@@ -163,7 +163,7 @@ function launch(manager::SSHManager, params::Dict, launched::Array, launch_ntfy:
     # Wait for all launches to complete.
     @sync for (i, (machine, cnt)) in enumerate(manager.machines)
         let machine=machine, cnt=cnt
-             @async try
+            @async try
                 launch_on_machine(manager, $machine, $cnt, params, launched, launch_ntfy)
             catch e
                 print(stderr, "exception launching on machine $(machine) : $(e)\n")
diff --git a/stdlib/Distributed/src/messages.jl b/stdlib/Distributed/src/messages.jl
index 47f70e044a2c0..fcba709b4db4a 100644
--- a/stdlib/Distributed/src/messages.jl
+++ b/stdlib/Distributed/src/messages.jl
@@ -126,22 +126,20 @@ function flush_gc_msgs(w::Worker)
     if !isdefined(w, :w_stream)
         return
     end
-    w.gcflag = false
-    new_array = Any[]
-    msgs = w.add_msgs
-    w.add_msgs = new_array
-    if !isempty(msgs)
-        remote_do(add_clients, w, msgs)
-    end
+    lock(w.msg_lock) do
+        w.gcflag || return # early exit if someone else got to this
+        w.gcflag = false
+        msgs = w.add_msgs
+        w.add_msgs = Any[]
+        if !isempty(msgs)
+            remote_do(add_clients, w, msgs)
+        end
 
-    # del_msgs gets populated by finalizers, so be very careful here about ordering of allocations
-    # XXX: threading requires this to be atomic
-    new_array = Any[]
-    msgs = w.del_msgs
-    w.del_msgs = new_array
-    if !isempty(msgs)
-        #print("sending delete of $msgs\n")
-        remote_do(del_clients, w, msgs)
+        msgs = w.del_msgs
+        w.del_msgs = Any[]
+        if !isempty(msgs)
+            remote_do(del_clients, w, msgs)
+        end
     end
 end
 
diff --git a/stdlib/Distributed/src/remotecall.jl b/stdlib/Distributed/src/remotecall.jl
index 088b7416f4488..5ac397656ce44 100644
--- a/stdlib/Distributed/src/remotecall.jl
+++ b/stdlib/Distributed/src/remotecall.jl
@@ -247,22 +247,42 @@ function del_clients(pairs::Vector)
     end
 end
 
-const any_gc_flag = Condition()
+# The task below is coalescing the `flush_gc_msgs` call
+# across multiple producers, see `send_del_client`,
+# and `send_add_client`.
+# XXX: Is this worth the additional complexity?
+#      `flush_gc_msgs` has to iterate over all connected workers.
+const any_gc_flag = Threads.Condition()
 function start_gc_msgs_task()
-    errormonitor(@async while true
-        wait(any_gc_flag)
-        flush_gc_msgs()
-    end)
+    errormonitor(
+        Threads.@spawn begin
+            while true
+                lock(any_gc_flag) do
+                    wait(any_gc_flag)
+                    flush_gc_msgs() # handles throws internally
+                end
+            end
+        end
+    )
 end
 
+# Function can be called within a finalizer
 function send_del_client(rr)
     if rr.where == myid()
         del_client(rr)
     elseif id_in_procs(rr.where) # process only if a valid worker
         w = worker_from_id(rr.where)::Worker
-        push!(w.del_msgs, (remoteref_id(rr), myid()))
-        w.gcflag = true
-        notify(any_gc_flag)
+        msg = (remoteref_id(rr), myid())
+        # We cannot acquire locks from finalizers
+        Threads.@spawn begin
+            lock(w.msg_lock) do
+                push!(w.del_msgs, msg)
+                w.gcflag = true
+            end
+            lock(any_gc_flag) do
+                notify(any_gc_flag)
+            end
+        end
     end
 end
 
@@ -288,9 +308,13 @@ function send_add_client(rr::AbstractRemoteRef, i)
         # to the processor that owns the remote ref. it will add_client
         # itself inside deserialize().
         w = worker_from_id(rr.where)
-        push!(w.add_msgs, (remoteref_id(rr), i))
-        w.gcflag = true
-        notify(any_gc_flag)
+        lock(w.msg_lock) do
+            push!(w.add_msgs, (remoteref_id(rr), i))
+            w.gcflag = true
+        end
+        lock(any_gc_flag) do
+            notify(any_gc_flag)
+        end
     end
 end
 
diff --git a/stdlib/Distributed/test/distributed_exec.jl b/stdlib/Distributed/test/distributed_exec.jl
index 749c18f6b61f0..3b99afac8cc15 100644
--- a/stdlib/Distributed/test/distributed_exec.jl
+++ b/stdlib/Distributed/test/distributed_exec.jl
@@ -1696,4 +1696,5 @@ include("splitrange.jl")
 # Run topology tests last after removing all workers, since a given
 # cluster at any time only supports a single topology.
 rmprocs(workers())
+include("threads.jl")
 include("topology.jl")
diff --git a/stdlib/Distributed/test/threads.jl b/stdlib/Distributed/test/threads.jl
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000..57d99b7ea056c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/stdlib/Distributed/test/threads.jl
@@ -0,0 +1,63 @@
+using Test
+using Distributed, Base.Threads
+using Base.Iterators: product
+
+exeflags = ("--startup-file=no",
+            "--check-bounds=yes",
+            "--depwarn=error",
+            "--threads=2")
+
+function call_on(f, wid, tid)
+    remotecall(wid) do
+        t = Task(f)
+        ccall(:jl_set_task_tid, Cvoid, (Any, Cint), t, tid - 1)
+        schedule(t)
+        @assert threadid(t) == tid
+        t
+    end
+end
+
+# Run function on process holding the data to only serialize the result of f.
+# This becomes useful for things that cannot be serialized (e.g. running tasks)
+# or that would be unnecessarily big if serialized.
+fetch_from_owner(f, rr) = remotecall_fetch(f ∘ fetch, rr.where, rr)
+
+isdone(rr) = fetch_from_owner(istaskdone, rr)
+isfailed(rr) = fetch_from_owner(istaskfailed, rr)
+
+@testset "RemoteChannel allows put!/take! from thread other than 1" begin
+    ws = ts = product(1:2, 1:2)
+    @testset "from worker $w1 to $w2 via 1" for (w1, w2) in ws
+        @testset "from thread $w1.$t1 to $w2.$t2" for (t1, t2) in ts
+          # We want (the default) lazyness, so that we wait for `Worker.c_state`!
+            procs_added = addprocs(2; exeflags, lazy=true)
+            @everywhere procs_added using Base.Threads
+
+            p1 = procs_added[w1]
+            p2 = procs_added[w2]
+            chan_id = first(procs_added)
+            chan = RemoteChannel(chan_id)
+            send = call_on(p1, t1) do
+                put!(chan, nothing)
+            end
+            recv = call_on(p2, t2) do
+                take!(chan)
+            end
+
+            # Wait on the spawned tasks on the owner
+            @sync begin
+                Threads.@spawn fetch_from_owner(wait, recv)
+                Threads.@spawn fetch_from_owner(wait, send)
+            end
+
+            # Check the tasks
+            @test isdone(send)
+            @test isdone(recv)
+
+            @test !isfailed(send)
+            @test !isfailed(recv)
+
+            rmprocs(procs_added)
+        end
+    end
+end