The Labour Party is expected to endorse plans by Ed Miliband to reform its historic links with the unions at a special conference in London.
Party members will vote on ending the automatic affiliation of trade union members and introducing "one member, one vote" in leadership elections.
Ed Miliband says the changes will transform not only the Labour Party but British politics.
Among those supporting the plan is former Prime Minister Tony Blair.
Mr Miliband won the last leadership election largely thanks to support from unions, but he announced changes to the links following controversy over union involvement in the selection of a Labour candidate in Falkirk last year.
Representatives of local Labour parties from across the UK are travelling to the ExCel centre to listen to Mr Miliband's speech and debate the proposed changes.
'Open our doors'But with Labour ministers, the party's ruling National Executive Committee and the big trade unions already signed up to them, the Labour leader is expected to win the vote.
He will tell Labour activists: "Today, we won't just be voting to open our doors. We'll be voting for the biggest transfer of power in the history of our party to our members and supporters.
"Today if you vote for these reforms you will be voting for Labour to be a movement again. Arguing our case house by house, village by village, town by town. But movements are only as strong as the people within them. The depth, the diversity, the reach of a movement is the true measure of its strength and its ability to make change.
"That's why we have to change, that's why we have to bring people in."
A new method of electing Labour's leader - the electoral college, which gives unions, party members and MPs/MEPs a third of the votes each, abolished in favour of one member, one vote
MPs have sole nomination rights for leadership candidates and those candidates will need a higher level of support than at present - possibly 15% of MPs
All union members will have to 'double opt-in' if they want to take part in a leadership contest. They have to say that they are content to give money to Labour AND that they want to become 'an affiliated supporter'
Only full party members - not trade union 'affiliated supporters' - will choose parliamentary and council candidates
Changes to London mayoral selection - Labour's candidate to be selected in the same way as the party leader
New leadership rules will be put in place this year - but changes to the party's funding will be phased in over five years
He will claim the changes present a once-in-a-generation chance to breathe new life into Britain's failing political system.
Former Labour leader Tony Blair has given his backing to the proposals, saying: "Ed has shown real courage and leadership on this issue. It is a long overdue reform that as I said before, was something I should have done myself.
"It puts individual people in touch with the party and is a great way of showing how Labour can reconnect with the people of Britain."
At the moment, Labour leadership elections are decided by a complex electoral college system, with equal weight given to the votes of three groups - one third to MPs and MEPs, one-third to ordinary party members and one-third to trade unionists.
Mr Miliband wants a "one-member, one-vote" system - something Labour leaders since John Smith in the early 1990s have tried and failed to bring about.
He also wants union members to "opt in" to join the party, for a £3 fee, rather than be automatically affiliated.
'Honour bound'Mr Miliband has argued that if even a fraction of union members sign up to be affiliated supporters it could more than double the number of activists the party can draw on and open politics up to a wider cross-section of people.
But the plans have already led the GMB union to slash its affiliation funding to Labour, and the party's biggest backer Unite will discuss its funding arrangements next week.
Unite general secretary Len McCluskey said he suspected only 10% of his union's one million members affiliated to Labour would opt to stay in if they were asked now.
Unite's executive has endorsed a report on the reforms drawn up by former party and union official Lord Collins, but the vote was not unanimous.
Mr McCluskey said Unite was "honour bound" to promote a different relationship as a result of the reforms put forward by Mr Miliband.
"We have some difficult choices to make - but it doesn't mean we could not make up any shortfall with donations."
'Complete the journey'John Smith's widow, Baroness Elizabeth Smith, writing in the Guardian, said her husband would have backed Mr Miliband's plan for one member, one vote.
She said: "Of course, Ed Miliband is a different leader than John, working in different times. But he has much in common with my husband.
"He has an understated style but is a leader of high principle, with a passionate belief in social justice. He has a capacity to bring people together and a determination to change our party so that we can change Britain.
"That's why I was proud to support him when he stood for the Labour leadership.
"I know that John would be supporting Ed Miliband today. His reforms not only complete the journey John embarked upon over 20 years ago.
"But they also begin a new journey for Labour, one that will help the party win the next election and govern with our roots deep in every community and every workplace, so that we can continue to serve the noble end of social justice that meant so much to my husband."
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