McLuhan was no exception. Two points:
He regularly observed that the United States achieved communism before any of the Eastern Bloc. By this he meant democracy and material plenty. We can easily point out the problems with this idea in hindsight but this was a common opinion in the 50s and 60s. For example, Labour MP Anthony Crosland's famous pamphlet, The Future of Socialism, which suggested:
The characteristic features of capitalism have disappeared - the absolute rule of private property, the subjection of all life to market influences, the domination of the profit motive, the neutrality of government, typical laissez-faire division of income and the ideology of individual rights.It remained for socialists to worry about better cafes, late licensing, more theatres, etc... cultural matters.
But we must mention, firstly, capitalism's second belle epoque was not beautiful for everybody. From anti-colonial struggles to the civil rights movement, plenty of people had to fight to be included in the good times. The second point is these good times were not bound to last, capitalism is a dynamic system, it's drive to competitive accumulation upsets the most stable and benign social relations: we know that.
Another significant observation of Marx, from Understanding Media was that Marx's focus on the machine, which fragments the work process, was undermined by electricity and automation, which reintegrates those fragments. Of course, Marx did not study the machine but the capital-labour relation. Media have no extra significance outside of class society. Steam power existed since the time of Anciemt Greece, but no one needed labour saving devices until labour had to be bought on the market.