It should spin counter-clockwise.
You can bolt a recoil on but it's not hooked up to anything. If you don't have a shaft coming out of the backplate it's not hooking up to anything.
I've been doing small-block nitro for many years from .119 to .18's. There's still a small pile of them in my shop. If the flywheel isn't tight it won't spin the crank either.