“Life has become better, comrades; life has become more cheerful” Joseph Stalin, Speech at the First All-Union Conference of Stakhanovites, 17 November 1935 (first published in Pravda, 22 November 1935); English wording varies by translation.
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Provenance
The documented source
Speech
Speech at the First All-Union Conference of Stakhanovites
Delivered
17 November 1935, Moscow
First printed
Pravda, 22 November 1935
Translation
J. V. Stalin, Works, Vol. 14 (Red Star Press, London, 1978), via the Marxists Internet Archive
The basis for the Stakhanov movement was first and foremost the radical improvement in the material welfare of the workers. Life has improved, comrades. Life has become more joyous. And when life is joyous, work goes well.
Section 2 — The Roots of the Stakhanov Movement
Russian original: “Жить стало лучше, товарищи. Жить стало веселее. А когда весело живется, работа спорится.” Translated word for word, the first two sentences give the popular wording, “Life has become better, comrades; life has become more cheerful.” Other English versions use “more joyous,” “merrier” or “happier.”
The Russian text in Stalin’s Sochineniya, vol. 14, contains “Жить стало лучше, товарищи. Жить стало веселее” and notes that the speech was first published in Pravda on 22 November 1935 — Marxists Internet Archive (Russian) ↗
The English Works, Vol. 14 (Red Star Press, London, 1978), renders it “Life has improved, comrades. Life has become more joyous.” — Marxists Internet Archive (English) ↗
Wikiquote lists “Life has improved, comrades. Life has become more joyous” among Stalin’s sourced quotes, citing the Speech at the Conference of Stakhanovites (17 November 1935) — Wikiquote ↗
Wikipedia says the familiar “Life has become better, life has become joyous” is a widespread version of this phrase from the 17 November 1935 conference — Wikipedia ↗
The speech was first published in 1935, after the 1931 cutoff. The popular English wording is an anonymous literal rendering with no identifiable translator. The Works translation shown above was published in 1978. The Marxists Internet Archive labels its transcription public domain, but that label does not settle US status, so we assert none.
Rights status is our research, not legal advice — and copyright varies by country and edition. For commercial or published use, confirm with the rightsholder. See terms.
Fact-check
Real quote, shifting words
The attribution is sound: Stalin really said this. But no single English wording is “the” quote. The Russian has been translated several ways, and it often reaches readers through a later song or a slogan rather than through the speech itself.
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Wording“Life has improved, comrades. Life has become more joyous.” Standard translation
This is the wording of the English Works edition, and it is the version Wikiquote lists as sourced — Marxists Internet Archive ↗.
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Wording“Life has become better, and happier too.” Paraphrase
A looser rendering, used in Michigan State’s Seventeen Moments in Soviet History. It notes that Stalin’s words became the motto of the Stakhanovite movement — Seventeen Moments ↗.
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Source“Life’s Become Better” (song, c. 1936) Later reuse
Vasily Lebedev-Kumach (words) and Alexander Alexandrov (music) built a song around the phrase. The song is a later reuse, not the source, so the line should be credited to Stalin’s 1935 speech — Wikipedia ↗.
✓Stalin’s own words, in his 17 November 1935 speech to the Stakhanovites: “Жить стало лучше, товарищи. Жить стало веселее” — Collected Works, vol. 14 ↗.
Context
Why it mattered
Stalin used the line to explain where the Stakhanovites’ record outputs came from. He said they rested “first and foremost” on improved material welfare, and that “when life is joyous, work goes well.” The phrase became the motto of the Stakhanovite movement and was soon set to music.
In modern Russian the phrase is used ironically, according to Wikipedia ↗. Today it is often quoted as a byword for official cheer that did not match ordinary experience.
Жить стало лучше, товарищи. Жить стало веселее.
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Filed under
More provenance-checked quotes on the same theme, each with its reuse status.
Joseph Stalin led the Soviet Union from the late 1920s until his death in 1953. In 1935 he championed the Stakhanovite movement, a state campaign that celebrated record-breaking workers. He told its first national conference that those records grew from workers’ better material conditions, and that is where this line comes from.
For writers & researchers
Cite this
Primary source
Joseph Stalin, “Speech at the First All-Union Conference of Stakhanovites,” 17 November 1935, first published in Pravda, 22 November 1935; Russian text in I. V. Stalin, Sochineniya, vol. 14; English translation in J. V. Stalin, Works, vol. 14 (London: Red Star Press, 1978).
This verification page
Quotle.info. “Who really said ‘Life has become better, comrades; life has become more cheerful’?” Last verified 2 Nov 2026. https://quotle.info/who-said/life-has-become-better-comrades-life-has-become-more/