"Life has become better, life has become joyous" is a widespread version of a phrase uttered by Soviet leader Joseph Stalin at the First All-Union Conference of Stakhanovites on 17 November 1935. The full quote from Joseph Stalin was, when translated into English, is:Life has improved, comrades. Life has become more joyous. And when life is joyous, work goes well. Hence the high rates of output. Hence the heroes and heroines of labour. That, primarily, is the root of the Stakhanov movement. If there had been a crisis in our country, if there had been unemployment - that scourge of the working class - if people in our country lived badly, drably, joylessly, we should have had nothing like the Stakhanov movement.