they did though, is the thing, particularly in Russian and Ukraine, less so in Ukbekistan and Kazakhstan. where i can sympathize with your "USSR always better" posturing here though is that the violence against children in Russia intensified after the collapse of the soviet union. additionally eugenics programs structured against left handed people were not unique to the soviet bloc, with the last law in the united states mandating the punishment of children for left-handedness being repealed in 2004 after a teacher in Tazewell, Virginia paddled a child for their lefthandedness in first grade.

however, in order to forge a better future we have to look back at history with a critical gaze to understand how we came to stand where we stand. violence against left handed children in the USSR was real, and to dismiss it with a simple "no they didn't" is disrespectful and dismissive to real people's lived experience that we can still draw from today. my neighbor in his 40s danced when that law was repealed in 2004 because he was so excited no child would be allowed to be scarred the way he was in a Russian orphanage in the 80s. he is today an organizer and advocate for that all forms of corporal punishment against children should be ceased as it's just a normalization for when they're adults. i find your flippancy with "no they didn't" absurd and dismissive