Why was the Hanukkah Revolution led Specifically by Kohanim?

[Note I might have posted this in years gone by...]

Q: Why was the Hanukkah Revolution led specifically by Kohanim?

As per my chaveir R. Joel Stern:

A: Because of the g'zeira of "tibo'eil lehgmon t'chilah". For Yisroelim and Leviim
this was bad - but survivable

For Kohanim it meant that every wife would thereby become a "zona-hallah" [even an anussah] and in a single generation the k'hunah would have been history. Hence the sense of urgency - davka for Kohanim.

Gutn Hanukkah
RRW