Despite all the really shady stuff that went on under his leadership, I think it's a fair statement to say that Russia/Soviet Union was a more prosperous, happier and more ethical state under his leadership than it is currently.
What does make you think so? I have witnesed everything since Brezhnev. Under Gorbachev thing started to detiriorate quite fast and most people shifted their focus from being happy about the iron curtain removal to making ends meet. As a person who lived through all this I would say that the last 20 years were definitely the best from prosperity and happiness point of view (frankly, the latter not being realted to the regime at all)