Mystery German film

I give up! I've been trying to recall the details of a long ago seen German
film. Shown in the days that Beeb 2 did this kind of cultural thing in such
series as "Film International".
I think it dealt with labour unrest in the interwar years.. a recurrent
scene was an adolescent trying to master hypnotism in order to gain a
courting advantage with a local beauty. He succeeds in the end only to be
interrupted by the outbreak of violence between strikers and troops. Now
someone make my day and tell me what this film is!
Thanks!