what were the social, economic and political conditions in russia before 1905?

Before the Revolution of 1905 Russia was an Absolute Monarchy. The Tsar was an autocrat, meaning he ruled by himself, without a parliament.

Russia was, therefore, a hierarchical society with extremes of wealth and poverty. The rich nobility had built enormous houses and palaces on vast estates, whilst the poor had jobs like barge pulling.

The economy of the country was poor. Some reforms had occurred, such as those of Count Witte which brought railways and vast industrial factories making iron, steel and textiles for the Russian military. But there were very few middle class professions and most people lived in medieval-type poverty.

There was no political representation in Russia. For the serfs (mostly peasants, but there were urban and factory serfs) there was the village organisation the Mir which acted as a council a court and divided up the fields to the serfs based on their needs. There were also, in the towns, Zemstvos, these acted like district councils, again with responsibility for law, dividing up resources and for managing the administration of the region.